Jaime Camil has family travel figured out

[00:01:21] Jaime Camil Thank you for having me, Elisabeth.

[00:01:23] Elisabeth Goodridge So, you have been on stage, you have been behind the camera, you've been in front of the camera. How did it all start? How did you decide you were going to be an actor?

[00:01:34] Jaime Camil Oh my God, we're going deep. All right.

[00:01:36] Elisabeth Goodridge We're going deep.

[00:01:37] Jaime Camil My mother, she lives in Brazil now. She is, you know, a painter and a songwriter and she is an artist all around. When you get the artistry passed to you through the umbilical cord, is very difficult to deny it or to walk away from that. But my father was a very wealthy businessman from Mexico City. So, of course he wanted me to pursue business. I really felt happy and felt fulfilled and felt that my soul was full when I was on stage or doing any sort of artistic discipline. So, I had to talk to my father, and to my surprise he was super supportive, do whatever you want to do, I'm behind you. But he was supportive, and that's how I started this journey.

[00:02:29] Elisabeth Goodridge You've hit such levels of success with your chosen profession, and you've had to travel all over the world for your career. Can you tell me a good authentic experience, like your first, like, I love travel, some story where you're so far away from Mexico City, where you grew up, where you felt like this is why I love traveling?

[00:02:51] Jaime Camil Well, there are so many. I mean, there's so many. My dad, we used to travel with him a lot to different places. My dad was kind of like the best at giving us experiences. I was very blessed and very privileged. But we went — I'm never going to forget this trip — we went from Mexico to New York. In New York, we stopped just to eat at Il Molino, right? Just to eat there and watch the Lion King. Then we went on the Concorde to I believe it was London or Paris. I don't remember. It was New York, one of those New York, London, New York, Paris. And then we landed and then went on, you know, private tours of the Sacre Coeur and these chapels and churches in France. We took a boat, and we did all the Sicilian, you know, the islands in Italy. And then we had a private tour of the Vatican. And okay, it was an insanely, insanely crazy and privileged trip. And I'm like, this is how we are all supposed to travel. Now, in all honesty, that was a little detached from reality. So then when I started traveling, I'm like, oh, this so different. So, I got a taste of the good life. And then that gave me the resources and the curiosity to find those places at a deal, if that makes sense.

[00:04:18] Elisabeth Goodridge It totally makes sense. So, you started traveling and having some extraordinarily privileged trips when you were a kid. And now you're traveling a lot for work. What makes a good hotel for an individual and then also with your family, because you've got two kids.

[00:04:32] Jaime Camil Yeah, you hit both nails on the head. First of all, it needs to be family-friendly, obviously. And second of all, I believe the service. The service first and foremost needs to be incredible. It doesn't need to be like a Gran Turismo hotel or five-star or diamond-level hotel. Listen, if you are treated well and if you have been there more than three times and they remember your name. And or they give you some sort of perks or they give you some sort of upgrades or this or whatever. But most importantly is how they treat you right. If you feel welcome at that hotel, that's it.

[00:05:08] Elisabeth Goodridge Okay, and what about with you’re with your family? What makes for a good family-friendly hotel?

[00:05:12] Jaime Camil Like for example, what are the names of your kids? Oh, Jaime and Elena. Okay, great. And then you get to the hotel and you have, you know, little crayon on the mirrors, like, welcome Jaime and Elena, and they draw a little teddy bear or they draw little unicorn or they do like little like animals, or I remember at the St. Regis Hotel In Mexico City, they built a tent, like a mini like camping tent inside of the room for the kids to feel that they were camping or something, or to give them an experience, period. And whenever a hotel offers you experiences for your family, for your kids, that's it. That's like, yeah.

[00:05:49] Elisabeth Goodridge My kid is 13 right now, but we went to a hotel in San Francisco, and there was just a big sea lion stuffy on the bed, and it was like, of course, of course, this is...we come back here because you remembered I was checking in with a kid and you left a stuffy huge. Because, like, if your kid's happy, you're happy, right?

[00:06:08] Jaime Camil A hundred percent. A hundred percent.

[00:06:09] Elisabeth Goodridge All right, but here's my next question, because you can have a great experience at a hotel, particularly with your family like your kid, but my kid, he's happy with a hotel pool, and that's it. I would like him to have a little bit more of an authentic experience, you know, one that is representative of the place we're at. What have you seen with all of your travels? What can an accommodation do to make an authentic vacation or authentic trip or an authentic stay?

[00:06:36] Jaime Camil You know what, Elisabeth, it has to do with if the accommodation has a great concierge, right? So, for example, we went to San Miguel de Allende, which is beautiful. And we're like, okay, I'm with kids. What can we do? And of course, immediately the hotel contacted me with horseback riding, four-wheel ATVs tours of the city, you know, visit this church that is a beautiful church, the first Catholic church that was ever built in Mexican territory, right? Like these kind of things, the places you visit offer. But if the hotel has a great connection and they have a great concierge and everything, they can provide those experiences for you.

[00:07:19] Elisabeth Goodridge How has travel changed you as a dad?

[00:07:22] Jaime Camil You learn it. You learn the meaning of the word patience and tolerance.

[00:07:28] Elisabeth Goodridge Of course.

[00:07:29] Jaime Camil Right? Because when you travel as an adult, you understand that there might be delays in the flight or they might be, you know, challenges or obstacles here and there, but kids are like, I want to get on the plane, and I want to get to the hotel, and I want to jump in the pool, period. So, I believe you learn to be very patient. You understand that traveling is, even though it's beautiful and it gives you an unlimited, a monumental amount of culture and experiences and, you know, everything that travel gives a human period, right? There are some challenges sometimes and some obstacles that you have to understand how to maneuver them, right? But again, I'm very OCD, right, so when I used to go to Wikipedia and plan my trips, I usually book everything on Expedia, whether it's the arrival to the hotel, the experiences. I remember there was a thing we did about going to Mexico, and I'm from Mexico City. And believe it or not, I was not aware they had an alebrije experience thing where you go with the family and you paint alebrijes. I'm there, and sometimes that happens. You're a place and you're not quite familiar with everything that that place offers, because you're from there, so you take it for granted. Yeah, but thanks to the platform, I was able to find great things for my kids to do in the city where I'm from.

[00:08:58] Elisabeth Goodridge And sometimes you got to look to outside resources to be, wait a second, I've lived here for so long that I don't even know how to be a tourist in my own home. But sometimes you can have the best vacations but not going very far away. How has travel shaped your sense of home?

[00:09:13] Jaime Camil We love to travel, but we love to get home, a hundred percent. It's, you know, home is where the heart is. Home is where we love to come back after a long travels or if I was in New York doing a Broadway show for two and a half months, or if I was in Vancouver shooting Schmigadoon for three months. And you start to miss your house and then your home, right? And then, even though I have my family with me because, you know, I cannot function well without my family far away for too long. But once we get home, it gives a little warmth to your heart when you come back home.

[00:09:46] Elisabeth Goodridge Okay, two very quick questions. So, you come back home, you're so happy to be home. Have you brought any mementos to usually get souvenirs or any local goods to bring home and decorate your house?

[00:09:58] Jaime Camil I mean, if we see something we really like, of course, we get it. And of course it's going to be a beautiful and wonderful reminder of that amazing trip we did. Right. But at the same time, I think memories, you know, the memories of the trip, having great pictures, moments, videos, that's what really, you know, stays, that's what stays in our hearts.

[00:10:20] Elisabeth Goodridge Okay, last question, we call this a softball. What is the very first thing you do when you check in to either a hotel or a vacation rental? Like when you get to your destination, what's the very first thing you do once you get in?

[00:10:32] Jaime Camil First and foremost, so I go up, I unpack, I put everything the way I wanted. And then, for example, when we went, I was in Madrid shooting. So, we went to Madrid to shoot, and for five days I went, I was doing nothing. So, we flew to Paris just to spend five days. First time that my kids were in Europe. So, that was such an incredible experience. We went there, and the first thing we did, private tour of the Eiffel Tower. So, we dropped the luggage, we dropped everything, and we went to Eiffel Tower.

[00:11:00] Elisabeth Goodridge Turning into your father, I have to say. You are a good dad.

[00:11:05] Jaime Camil I am a good dad, and I want to give them great experiences and listen, in all honesty, yes, it is expensive, but it's not crazy. It's not like my dad used to do it. There are so many ways of finding great deals and great experiences, and you don't have to empty the bank. Honestly, I mean, it's like, okay, 40 euros or whatever to visit the Eiffel Tower, 80 euros, you get a private guide. First time my kids go to the Eiffel Tower, yes, I want them to have the experience of understanding the history behind the tower, you know, all of that. It's giving them the gift of those experiences and having that immense culture, you know, lay upon them. I think it's something that is invaluable.

[00:11:52] Elisabeth Goodridge Well, that is the gift of travel, that you're giving experiences, you're opening and broadening their world, and everyone deserves to travel. And there are ways you can do it, spending a lot of money, but you could also do a budget. Thank you so much for joining us, Jaime. Had a great conversation. You took us to so many different places, so many places to think about. So, thank you so much for your time.

[00:12:16] Jaime Camil Elisabeth, my pleasure. Thank you so much. Do me a favor and tell all of your viewers to visit my travel shop, because they're very personally curated. I have visited every single one of those items personally, and I know they are amazing. So, yes, please go check out my travel shop.

[00:12:38] Elisabeth Goodridge What a fun conversation with Jaime. I'm so glad he joined us today. We heard his point of view on family travel and what makes travel authentic. It's a good reminder that the more we approach travel with respect and an open mind, maybe with your kids, the richer our experiences are. To check out Jaime's Travel Shop for recommendations on where to stay in Mexico and beyond, visit the link in the description. And don't forget to subscribe for more episodes of Powering Travel. You can find us on Spotify, YouTube, Apple podcasts, anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Elisabeth Goodridge, and I can't wait to see where you go to next.