London, UK + Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Alison and Lulu have a Guest Googler in the the house, Jenn Warren, the creative mind behind The Rogue French Fry. Jenn just released a super funny parody video of Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” that you can find here (and you really should). You can find her on YouTube and on Facebook to hear personal, funny, honest commentary on the wins and the losses of marriage, parenthood, and life. And she took time out of her crazy busy life to do her own 10k day!
Alison is all about her new manicure, and she has long nails for the first time. Her everyday tasks might be harder, but she loves the way she looks… that’s the price of beauty, everyone. Jenn is obsessed with two shows: Dead to Me and One Day at a Time. Lulu’s obsession is not making her happy. It’s the pimple on her chin, which you can’t even see because this is, um, a podcast. And it’s not even one of our video episodes. But to hear her speak, it must be absolutely taking over her face. It’s probably not. But that’s how she feels.
Wishlist time! Alison wants a pedicure to match her manicure. Jenn is hopping on the beauty train and adds eyelash extensions to her wishlist. Lulu wants her apartment hunt to be done. She’s in the middle of an apartment hunt, and she does not have 10k to spend on one, and the stress is real.
We love it when our guests create 10k days, because they always have a unique point of view. Jenn is no exception — she’s going to take us on a vegan tour of London! She consulted The Happy Cow app, an amazing resource for vegetarian and vegan eaters, to help her plan her trip.
Her first stop is to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on the West End, and she’ll definitely be picking up some souvenirs for her family at the gift shop. She’s going to see both parts, plus all the rest of her day. One of those souvenirs must be Hermione’s time-turner. At some point, Jenn heads to The Rabbit Hole, a vegan hair salon.
And then, it’s time for Jenn’s vegan grub crawl! Her first stop is Fed By Water. We looked that up after they recorded this, and unfortunately, it’s now permanently closed. That’s actually good news for the ladies of 10k, though, because they do have an entire water tasting menu planned in this episode, and this could be a billion-dollar idea.
And then… Alison says out loud that 10k Dollar Day and The Rogue French Fry are going to do this vegan grub crawl in London in January 2020. And now we’re putting it in the blog. Will it actually happen? We’ll see. Alison usually gets what she wants with these kind of things, so I guess it’s time to start saving…
Lulu is heading to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a traveler’s secret — and where she spent her twenty-first birthday. No Señor Frogs for Lulu, she’s gotta go to a Central Asian Repubilc. She sets up camp in the Hyatt Regency Bishkek, the swankiest place in town. She gets an interpreter so she doesn’t make any cultural faux pas, and hires a car driver through Travel Experts (no Blacklane in Bishkek yet, unfortunately). First stop: breakfast at Sierra Cafe, where the dish of the week is a yak burger. Now, do you know what a yak is? Because Lulu, Alison, and Jenn clearly don’t. But it’s funny to hear them try to describe one. Here’s a link to up your yak knowledge. Because you apparently never know when it’ll come up in conversation.
Next up is the Zhirgal Banya Bath House, a Soviet-style bath house that makes Lulu a little nervous. After her, um, stimulating experience at the bath house, she soothes her super-exfoliated skin by going to lunch at Bukhara.
Lulu’s day takes a bit of a turn when she decides to go roller skating at a retro roller skating rink. She suits up with her own socks from Bombas, some disinfecting spray, and custom roller skates. However, she ended up not being able to find the retro roller skating rink, so she decides to parkour (just stay with us, here) around a famous abandoned nightclub and casino in Bishkek. Of course, parkour isn’t done on, you know, roller skates. So she’s really just roller skating around. She makes sure to get the brand-new Switchpod by Pat Flynn for her vlogging. Pat Flynn was our first-ever 10k Saturday guest — have you listened to that episode? You can listen to it again by clicking here!
After her skating / parkouring / vlogging adventure, Lulu goes to Save the Ales, a craft brewery in Bishkek founded and staffed entirely by women. That’s a big deal for a country that just outlawed bride kidnapping. Lulu tells us about a pretty amazing fashion show featuring women who survived this. After buying a round for the house in honor of her long-past twenty-first birthday, she goes to Burana Tower, a major attraction in Bishkek. She’s actually made this climb before, so she knows that this time, she wants a headlamp. She finds a super-fancy one that even charges her phone. Wishlist, anyone?
After her grueling (but fully illuminated) climb, she needs a massage, which she gets at Indi Massage. Fully relaxed, she finishes her day off by attending a concert at the Kyrgyz Opera and Ballet and dinner at Arzu. That’s her day, and if you want to hear more about her college trip to Kyrgyzstan, it appears in her college professor’s book. Check out this link to buy Dr. Eugene Huskey’s book, Encounters at the Edge of the Muslim World!
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