08.10.26 Breaking Phone Addiction / Know The Affinity Fraud Trap

Are you looking to break free from the time killing, mindless scrolling of phone addiction? Clark reviews the popular Brick Phone Lock—a $60 physical device paired with an app designed to lock you out of your most distracting apps. This tool might be a game-changer if phone addiction is actively hurting your productivity, work, and/or personal relationships. Also, a massive investigative report reveals how high-profile NFL players lost millions to a sophisticated e-commerce scheme using fake Shopify stores and manipulated earnings simulations. Clark breaks down how over $1 billion has been stolen from professional athletes—and what can be learned from it. Know how to spot the red flags, protect your hard-earned money, and avoid falling for the same trap—no matter who recommends the deal. Plus, Christa shares your #AskClark questions and Clark gives his take. All this and more on the August 10, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your opinions or questions: Ask Clark. STOP Scrolling: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Affinity Fraud: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Brick Phone Lock Review: Why This Device Is a Game-Changer Can a $60 Plastic Cube Solve Our Screen-Time Crisis? - The WSJ Is Frontier's GoWild! Pass Worth It? - Clark Howard Is There a Safe Way to Use Your Debit Card? - Clark Howard NFL Players Targeted in E-Commerce Scheme Using Fake Shopify Stores How To Find the Biggest Scams in Your Area - Clark Howard Why You Need Paper Evidence of Your Financial Accounts 7 Things To Know About Costco Pharmacy - Clark Howard 10 Ways To Save on Prescription Drugs - Clark Howard Travel Archives - Clark Howard Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Modafinil was invented in the 1970s and has been used by the highest performers on and off the planet. Soldiers, pilots, and even astronauts aboard the ISS use Modafinil in high-stakes situations where full concentration and alertness are paramount. And it's now available in liquid form to qualified patients at mod.com. Visit mod.com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order plus free shipping with promo code SPOTIFY at mod.com.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Hi there. I am fully charged and here to tell you Toy Story 5 is now on Disney+

• 0:37Speaker 02

  It's been too long, cowboy.

• 0:38Speaker 01

  Woody, Buzz, and Jesse are back for a brand-new adventure with some seriously cool new tech. What? Holy butterscotch! You said it, Jesse. So, save your batteries and watch the global phenomenon at home. And the best part, it's perfect for the whole family. Power up your movie night and watch Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5, now streaming on Disney Plus, rated PG.

• 1:05Speaker 03

  I'm so glad you're with us on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And first, I want to start off by thanking you for starting off your week with me. And I hope you learn something new that you can put to work in your life on this podcast or YouTube show. Speaking of YouTube, I'm going to begin today with something we all struggle with, our screen time. So, I've talked about this before, but there's a device that I was, I rolled my eyes about. It's about 60 bucks that claims

• 1:49Speaker 03

  to help break the addiction. And I need to tell you, the reports overwhelmingly, it's the only thing that people have found that works to get them to reduce their screen time. And later, have you heard about this terrible thing with the NFL players who lost much or all of the money they made from their time being football players? It's an affinity fraud. And I want you to watch out for identity fraud in your own life. That's coming up later. So, a lot of people get addicted to their phones. They get addicted to a game

• 2:32Speaker 03

  on their phones. They get addicted to social media on their phones. I have a relative who cannot get his face out of Facebook. He is on it. It feels like there's only 168 hours in the week, but it feels like he's on it 175 hours of the week. He's not present a lot of times because he's so into Facebook. It could be a game you play on your phone. It could be any of a number of social media things. It could be people on a dating site

• 3:12Speaker 03

  who keep scrolling endlessly, mindlessly, over and over and over again, and separate from real life because of all the time they are just drawn to that screen. And for me, my big thing is reading news sites. And I've been okay with that because I get a simple warning on my phone that tells me every week, it gives me a checkup on my screen time. And if I'm using it less than before or more than before. And what I've discovered is a

• 3:49Speaker 03

  pattern that my abusive screen time is when I'm on a trip somewhere, that I'm using my phone for every last thing when I'm on a trip. But if I'm stationary for a week, fortunately, I'm lucky so far, my screen time hasn't gone crazy. But if I'm talking to you and your screen time is bonkers, I remember when I first heard about this thing called Brick Phone. What's funny is that this app is one that actually overwhelmingly, people say

• 4:27Speaker 03

  it works. And what it is, is basically, you get the brick, you download the app, and then you go in and you have to discipline yourself. You select the apps that you know are your downfall, that you're just spending way, way, way, way too much time on. Once you've said it, you use the app and you tap the phone to the brick, and then you can't access the apps anymore. Nothing is showing up from any of those apps. Now, the brick is not a physical brick. Have you ever seen one, Krista?

• 5:06Speaker 04

  I have not.

• 5:07Speaker 03

  Well, what, what made me think of this, I saw someone asked him, is that the thing they call the brick? And she was telling me, I mean, just fully animated, how much it changed her life. And the next day, I saw a story in the Wall Street Journal about how this thing is really growing because people find it's the only thing that worked for them. When would you ever hear me say, go pay 60 bucks for a behavior month?

• 5:36Speaker 04

  Never, never.

• 5:38Speaker 03

  So, I'm not, I'm not saying spend the 60 bucks, but I'm saying if it's harming your relationships with people, it's harming you at work, whatever it is, and nothing has worked for you, then this is something you should consider, maybe. Because I'm not going to say, you know, yeah, go spend the money.

• 6:02Speaker 04

  So, I haven't told you this story yet, but last weekend, I was with a bunch of people. We were going out for the evening. And I've been really conscious. And I just had a conversation with one of the people, and we were talking about how into our phones, you know, people get and how addictive it is. And she and I were both like, yeah, we really want to do it less. Well, we're leaving, and I realized I forgot my phone. So, I'm like, I start to go back into my house to get my phone. And I was like, you know what? No. I'm going to be without my phone this whole evening. I'm just going to focus on who I'm with. There's no reason I need a phone right now. So, we went, we went out to dinner. It was a wonder, like, long dinner, so fun, didn't even think about it, didn't need my phone. And then we went to go to the concert we were attending that night.

• 6:45Speaker 03

  Your ticket was on your phone?

• 6:46Speaker 04

  I had two tickets. Two of the tickets were on my phone, on the app. So, I start to panic. So, other people there have, you know, they have phones and websites, so I try to log in to the website, can't remember the password. And then I think I remembered the password, but it wants, everything wants two-step verification. So, it wants verification sent to my email. Well, I can't log into my email with their phone because that wants a two-step verification. Everything, every corner I went, it was blocking me because of the security things that we have set up. So, I was very lucky that I went to the box office and they were able to pull up my email. And I showed my license, which I had with me, even though I have that saved on my phone, too. I did have my physical driver's license, and we were able to get the tickets. But I was like, wow, the one night, I'm like,

• 7:31Speaker 04

  so proud of myself. And then, yeah, forgot about that.

• 7:35Speaker 03

  Do you know why there are more cellphone accounts in the United States than there are people?

• 7:40Speaker 04

  Why?

• 7:41Speaker 03

  Because so many people now carry two cellphones.

• 7:45Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah, for work and...

• 7:46Speaker 03

  They carry one that they do the things they have to do on, and the other could be, it could be a work and personal, or it could be a work and it's one for playing.

• 7:57Speaker 04

  Or...

• 7:57Speaker 03

  That would be the one you brick.

• 7:58Speaker 04

  Burner phone for some people.

• 8:00Speaker 03

  Well, something...

• 8:01Speaker 04

  Whatever.

• 8:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, something they shouldn't be doing. Okay.

• 8:04Speaker 04

  Okay, we'll go to questions now. Katie in Tennessee says, I'm writing to you from Clarksville, Tennessee. And no, despite the name, you do not own the town, though your money-saving advice certainly rules our household. My amazing kiddos are six, five, and three, and they're starting to enjoy travel along with us. Since we're now navigating the world with young, elementary-age children, does any of your standard travel advice change? With a family of five, standard hotel rooms and flights get expensive quickly. We are big fans of the outdoors and are definitely not a go-in-to-debt-for-Disney family. Are there specific strategies for this age bracket regarding outdoor lodging, gear packing, or

• 8:44Speaker 04

  flights that we should adjust to keep costs down? Thank you for everything you do. #RothFirst.

• 8:51Speaker 03

  Very nice.

• 8:53Speaker 04

  Love it.

• 8:53Speaker 03

  Very nice. So, Katie, the good news is that when you go camping, when you do an outdoor trip, the expenses don't multiply out by the number of people. You know, you rent the campground, same cost for one person is for five. I mean, a lot of the things you do camping, you enter a park, you pay one admission usually for the vehicle, not per person. I mean, you're already thinking the right way. Flights? Okay, flights.

• 9:24Speaker 03

  The only thing I know that works for families is, and I've read about this, and I've seen it on YouTube, is they buy the Go Wild Pass from Frontier for everybody in the family. And they know they're going wherever they can go the next day for about, it works out to be about $15. And your kids learn that life is not always cushy when they're at a Frontier Airlines gate, but-

• 9:57Speaker 04

  Well, they do like to camp. It's kind of equivalent, right?

• 10:00Speaker 03

  It is equivalent to camping. And then the other thing that I think has been the greatest thing for people with multiple small children is the proliferation of non-expensive suite hotels that you can pile the whole crew in one hotel suite. Think of, there are a variety of Town Place Suites, Staybridge Suites. There are so many of these brands now, and it's a great marketplace for families because you pay for one. They're really not suites. They're more like apartments. Hyatt does it a lot with their Hyatt, is it Place

• 10:42Speaker 03

  or House that has the apartment kind of things? So this is a big area in the hotel business. And then, a lot of them come with free breakfast. So the kids, you don't have to pay to feed them. You got the kitchens. And there's a lot of really, really good things with this development in the hotel business.

• 11:02Speaker 04

  I did a lot of Airbnb and VRBO when my kids were young. I'll just say that. I know there are issues, but it can really be a money saver. Okay, Jake-

• 11:11Speaker 03

  You and I, you and I always, Airbnb, you've been obsessed with Airbnb for, since-

• 11:15Speaker 04

  Well, it's saved me a lot of money, for sure.

• 11:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:18Speaker 04

  Uh, Jake in Georgia says, "I keep hearing on some financial shows that I have the same protection with a debit card if it has a Visa or MasterCard logo on it as I do with a credit card."

• 11:28Speaker 03

  A financial show, really?

• 11:30Speaker 04

  When I investigated this, I found that debit card transactions are governed by the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and credit cards by the Fair Credit Billing Act. Who is correct?

• 11:42Speaker 03

  The Fair Credit Billing Act has a lot more consumer protections. There's, basically, with a debit card, you have no protection if you buy something in advance and the supplier goes bust or is gone with your money. You have, don't have the chargeback rights you do with a credit card. You don't have the time period where you have not paid the credit card company yet. With the debit card, the money goes right away. The reality out there, I remember years and years ago, when I first went on the rampage on debit cards, remember we had the media spokesperson on from Visa?

• 12:24Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 12:24Speaker 03

  And they said, "Oh, yes. If it has a Visa logo, it has the same exact protections." I said, "Really? Can you supply us with that in writing?" And he said, "Yes. We're still waiting."

• 12:36Speaker 04

  Yep, never got it.

• 12:37Speaker 03

  You know what happened? Is he lost your email address, didn't know where to find us. No, we never, ever got that, did we?

• 12:45Speaker 04

  Mm-mm.

• 12:45Speaker 03

  Because the protections are not the same.

• 12:48Speaker 04

  Well, and the big problem, like you always say, you know, your money is gone temporarily anyway, when you're trying to fight it. So you could end up bouncing other payments.

• 12:58Speaker 03

  And clearly, if you read the rules and you read, if there is a problem with the debit card, how horrible the roadblocks are to you having your money restored. And we'll hear from people who say, "You said the debit card was so bad, but this happened and they gave me my money back." Right, because it was your money.

• 13:19Speaker 04

  Right. With a credit card, your money doesn't leave your pocket while you're fighting it.

• 13:24Speaker 03

  Right.

• 13:24Speaker 04

  Cathol in Washington says, "My credit union has a checking account that pays 4.25% on as much as you have in the account, no limit."

• 13:32Speaker 03

  Really?

• 13:33Speaker 04

  "You must make 12 debit card withdrawals per month of at least $5. I would like to move my savings into this much higher rate checking account, but I'm somewhat concerned about the safety of using the debit card in this age of skimming. I only use this card for making the 12, I would only use it for making the 12 required withdrawals. How concerned should I be?"

• 13:53Speaker 03

  Uh, absolutely take advantage of what the credit union's offering. It is highly irregular that they pay the 4.25% without limit. Uh, most of the programs where you have to do the 12 debit card swipes as credit card, because of all the merchant fees that it generates for the bank or credit union, they limit what you can earn interest on usually up to 5,000 a year account, 10,000 a year account, something like that. If you can do it without limit, absolutely take advantage of this. Know that when I talk about all the problems with the piece of trash fake Visa or fake MasterCard, the debit card,

• 14:36Speaker 03

  that even though the risk is there, it's only a risk. But you know you're going to make the 4.25%, which is great, on the idle money that is in your checking account or was in your savings account you move over. So I would absolutely take advantage of this. Now, the skimmer thing, what it means is you do not pay at the pump at a gas station to be one of your 12 transactions. That is the greatest danger of skimmers that exists in the marketplace. Coming up ahead, speaking of a risk in the marketplace, that never

• 15:15Speaker 03

  stops affinity fraud. And it can hit close to home, or hit somebody who you only know from watching a sporting event, or watching a concert, or whatever. We're going to talk about that.

• 15:32Speaker 00

  Midafinil from mod.com is changing the way high performers get energy. Midafinil is a prescription treatment that engages multiple pathways in your brain to achieve steady energy and alertness for 10 to 12 hours. And it's now available at mod.com to qualifying patients. Visit mod.com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order plus free shipping with promo code SPOTIFY. That's promo code SPOTIFY at mod.com.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  Hi there. I am fully charged and here to tell you, Toy Story 5 is now on Disney Plus.

• 16:06Speaker 02

  It's been too long, cowboy.

• 16:08Speaker 01

  Woody, Buzz, and Jesse are back for a brand new adventure with some seriously cool new tech.

• 16:13Speaker 05

  What? Holy butterscotch!

• 16:15Speaker 01

  You said it, Jesse. So save your batteries and watch the global phenomenon at home. And the best part, it's perfect for the whole family. Power up your movie night and watch Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5, now streaming on Disney Plus, rated PG.

• 16:30Speaker 03

  Barron's Magazine did a huge investigative report on the news story you may have seen just, or heard in general news, about the NFL players who allegedly had much or all of their life savings stolen from them. Money that they were earning from the very short cycle you make money as a professional athlete, but you're in big money. Players have a target on them, where scamsters want to rip them off. And in the scam you may or may not have heard of, where unbelievable millions of dollars allegedly have been stolen

• 17:11Speaker 03

  from high-earning NFL players, they were conned with a Shopify-powered website business, where they were shown all kinds of fake simulations that they didn't know were fake, allegedly, of all the money they were going to make, having this Shopify business. Barron's has seen a lot of the stuff. It is all unbelievable. This alleged scam, I have to say alleged because no one's been convicted yet. What is key here is the athletes didn't look for

• 17:54Speaker 03

  normal red flags. Why? Because once someone within a group is recruited, others let down their normal suspicion. They say, "Oh, wow. I want in on that as well. Look how much money he's making. I want to make that money too." And then another, and then another, and then another. The guy behind this one, he's been running around on private jets, yachts, has a Maybach, and has been living large off the money from all these athletes. And eventually,

• 18:35Speaker 03

  it will come out. But what's just unreal is how much money has been stolen. Listen to this. An Ernst & Young report found that over the last many years, over a billion dollars has been stolen from athletes. A billion dollars. I had the privilege or responsibility, or whatever you would call it, over the years to talk privately to a number of sports teams, to talk to them about money, how to remember that the earning period they have at the very large money, it's a very short window, and then there's a lot of life left.

• 19:16Speaker 03

  Some of the professional leagues, over 80% of athletes end up bust within just a short period of time after their playing days. But this isn't about athletes. It's about you. Over and over again, people get taken in what are known as affinity frauds, where people of the same organization, same religion, same community, same private club, whatever it is, hear about this great can't lose opportunity at investment, investment. And then another, they tell a friend, they brag to another friend, on like that. And before

• 19:56Speaker 03

  you know it, that con artist pitching is the hottest ticket in town, in that social circle, in that religious congregation, whatever it is. And this happens over and over and over again. Just because someone you know, like, and respect has quote-unquote "invested in something" does not mean you can just do it without doing normal thinking. Not being a cynic, but taking the proper steps-

• 20:35Speaker 03

  To quote unquote, "check something out thoroughly before your money goes in it." Because what happens in every one of these scams, it's like the ones I was talking about last year with people that were buying promissory notes being pitched to them because they were members of the Republican Party. And they were buying these because other Republicans were buying them that they really liked and respected. And they all got taken. None of the people were perpetrators, but it was another form of affinity group. Bernie Madoff, all the people who lost money with Bernie Madoff by the billions.

• 21:20Speaker 03

  So beware, it's not just a professional football player getting ripped off. It's any of us who let down our guard and trust the smooth talking salesperson can end up having their money take a one-way trip without you.

• 21:39Speaker 04

  You mentioned religious affiliations. I can't, I mean, I've seen so many examples of like churches, they are trying to help their congregation and the people running them, they're not, they don't understand that this thing could be dangerous. A financial, financial person quote says, you know, I want to help educate your parishioners. And they do a program and of course, like, you know, you think this would be a great thing to do.

• 22:03Speaker 03

  Because it feels like the church has already blessed it.

• 22:07Speaker 04

  Right, right. And they're trying to just help people. So yeah, it's a huge bummer. All right, questions for you. Jane in California says, Clark recommends downloading financial statements. If I'm using my cell phone app, it's much easier to take a screenshot. Is that sufficient proof of account?

• 22:24Speaker 03

  Jane, that's just fine. Just make sure you have your phone properly password protected because if you lose your phone and you don't have it with a password or biometric protection, the criminal who finds your phone could also see those pictures of your account.

• 22:41Speaker 04

  Well, I don't, I was thinking you would say no.

• 22:44Speaker 03

  No, I'm okay with that.

• 22:45Speaker 04

  I think you could probably download statements from the app usually. It depends on the financial institution. I would prefer that, that you download a PDF of a statement because I don't know, screenshots could be altered. You might have a harder time proving things, right? Don't you think?

• 22:59Speaker 03

  I'm not necessarily as worried about that. I want you to have something that shows, hey, my September statement shows blah, blah, blah. I want you to, to have something that shows that if there was a successful hack by China or whatever, that wiped out the records at a bank, at least temporarily or brokerage, having something that shows dated. I mean, anybody, I guess today with, with the ability to create anything could do so.

• 23:31Speaker 04

  Well, I just mean, the bank could then question you more than if you had an official downloaded statement, but either way.

• 23:36Speaker 03

  Well, I just want, what I'm trying to do, I don't want perfect to be the enemy of the good.

• 23:42Speaker 04

  Right.

• 23:43Speaker 03

  I want people to have some kind of paper trail or digital equivalent of their monthly statements. And once you get the next monthly statement, you can delete the prior one. But I want you to have something that if you don't think at some point, we're going to have a problem where people's accounts disappear. Remember we told the story, this all came up with the Fidelity Investments thing where an unknown number of people's accounts with Fidelity just vanished. It was not a foreign actor. It was an internal problem at Fidelity. And Fidelity, I still remember one of the people profiled being told, oh, you sure you don't, your accounts aren't at Schwab?

• 24:24Speaker 03

  And they were even more freaked out at that point because Fidelity had no record at all for a period of time that person existed.

• 24:35Speaker 04

  Mark in California says, when picking up a prescription at my local Costco pharmacy after receiving a text message that it would cost $110, I remembered Clark's advice to compare the prescription cost using a drug insurance plan and the Costco member price without insurance. I was shocked and happily surprised to learn that the Costco member price for the same prescription was only $39. So of course I asked them not to use my drug plan and I saved $70. I asked the pharmacist why Costco doesn't inform the member of the lower price option. The response I got is that they've been asking Costco management to provide the information to the Costco members. My question, who is benefiting from the higher margin on drugs? The insurance company or Big Pharma?

• 25:18Speaker 04

  And I want to mention, I was picking up a prescription at Costco and the pharmacist did say, you know, if you paid the Costco member price, it would be this much, it just doesn't count towards your deductible. So they did offer it to me in a Costco. I'm not sure why.

• 25:32Speaker 03

  Well, I'm glad about that. So your question, where's the ripoff coming? There's these insanely corrupt kickbacks that are paid to the pharmacy benefits managers to overprice meds. And then they overcharge you and then the pharmacy benefits manager gets the kickback. Congress has had hearings on this for years and years and years, but the lobbying power of the insurance companies is so strong that Congress has never outlawed this practice. It's way past about time. But what is the stunner is yes, you're not helping to meet whatever your drug plan deductible is.

• 26:15Speaker 03

  I save so much money just being private pay instead of using my insurance benefit for prescriptions, just paying the member price at Costco. And I don't think I've ever in recent years filled a prescription at Costco through my pharmacy benefits manager.

• 26:37Speaker 04

  Christie in South Carolina says, I wrote in a few years ago to tell you how excited my husband and I were that our 14-year-old daughter at the time had just gotten her first job and asked about opening an IRA like her siblings.

• 26:49Speaker 03

  No way, no way. I love that.

• 26:51Speaker 04

  Well, fast forward four years and this daughter, our fourth child, has just graduated high school. After several stressful weeks of trying to decide where to go to college, she has chosen the path you often promote, technical school. She has a 529 account, but she ultimately decided it didn't make sense to spend so much money on a four-year school. She's a student choosing a non-traditional path. Because she's planning on a healthcare degree at a technical school, she can afford to use some of her 529 money to participate in the Semester at Sea Study Abroad Program, which she's super excited about.

• 27:25Speaker 03

  Okay, people who've gone on that don't just love it. What is beyond love?

• 27:30Speaker 04

  No, seriously.

• 27:32Speaker 03

  They, they just have the best time.

• 27:34Speaker 04

  She will take classes on a cruise ship while visiting 11 countries over three and a half months. While it's an expensive venture, it's far less than what it would have cost her to go to a traditional four-year school and she will have the experience of a lifetime. I plan to go with her to Bangkok where she will board the ship. I hear some say that I should go to Tokyo first while headed that way. We are a traveling family, but I've never visited any of the Asian countries. What are your best recommendations of places to go for about 10 days, including travel time, before I leave her on the ship? I'm looking for the best bang for the least buck. And I know you're the man to ask. Yes, he is. She, she has to be there January 5th, so we'll travel right after Christmas, not the best time financially, I realize.

• 28:18Speaker 04

  Also, I see airlines I've never heard of. Any I should steer clear of?

• 28:23Speaker 03

  Okay, so first we're going to talk calendar. All right, don't hate on me. I want you to fly Christmas Day. Have Christmas early because Christmas Day is going to be the cheapest day to go during the time period that you've got to get there. I mean, you start looking after Christmas, you can check day by day, the fares are going to get a lot higher. Second thing, you live on the East Coast. The fares from the West Coast to Asia are usually a third the cost of air fares from the East Coast. So you'll want to go first on a domestic ticket to depending, Seattle often is the

• 29:07Speaker 03

  cheapest gateway to places in Asia, but LA, San Francisco, check all three. But the odds are you're going to pay so much less money than you would from the East Coast. There are a lot of airlines in Asia that are the world's best. And it's not even close. The best airlines in the world are all Asian or maybe Middle Eastern. But there are also some terrible airlines in Asia. The Taiwanese airlines are great. The Korean airlines are great. Japanese airlines are great. Hong Kong has a really great airline, Cathay Pacific.

• 29:48Speaker 03

  Singapore Air is often rated the world's best airline. So you want to pay attention. You want to fly on a Skytrax five-star rated airline. Doesn't matter if you haven't heard of Skytrax. Just go look at Skytrax and stick to one of the Asian airlines. It's a five-star. Where you end up stopping on the way, they're all going to be different. They're all going to be fun to experience is really going to be based on where you're going to get your best deal as a stopover with the flight going all the way to Bangkok and for you back. So just shop around with Google Flights. You'll be able to limit after you've looked through Skytrax and find the best airlines

• 30:34Speaker 03

  to fly on, you'll then be able on Google Flights to be able to select only those. And then again, shop them from the three West Coast airports, Seattle, San Francisco, LA, to see where you're going to get the best deal in total, going to somewhere in Asia, doing a free stopover and then continue, it'll usually be the hub airport of whichever airline you pick and then on to Bangkok. It's going to be cold in Northern Asia in December, early January. It's going to be hot in Thailand. So you have to prepare for dressing potentially two different ways, but it's going to be

• 31:18Speaker 03

  an experience of a lifetime for your daughter. You're going to have a great time and just be prepared, you're going to catch a bug, not a bad bug, the Asian travel bug. Because most people, when they've been to Asia, once they've been once, they want to go again and again and again.

• 31:40Speaker 03

  First trip, though, I would say the most user-friendly places for your stopover are going to be Japan, which is crazy user-friendly for tourists, and Korea and Taiwan also. Both are good. Hong Kong's a little bit more difficult as a destination for a first-time traveler, stopover for a first-time traveler. But you've got plenty of airlines to pick from, and I just love this whole thing we're talking about.

• 32:11Speaker 04

  I would also suggest the islands in Thailand, because they're going to be in Bangkok.

• 32:16Speaker 03

  Go to Phuket, go to Krabi.

• 32:18Speaker 04

  Pei Pei Islands, yeah.

• 32:19Speaker 03

  You can go up to, uh, instead you can go up to, where are the elephants? Chiang Mai. Go up to Chiang Mai. I mean, it's, you could, if you found a really great fare to Thailand, you could travel around Thailand and have just the best time ever. There are shuttle flights from one place to another in Thailand that almost are like getting on a bus. They fly so often.

• 32:43Speaker 04

  Thai Airways, any other airlines that?

• 32:46Speaker 03

  Well, there are a bunch of airlines that fly.

• 32:49Speaker 04

  Within Asia, but she asked, like, it's, she doesn't need to avoid any?

• 32:54Speaker 03

  Well, that's what I was saying from the tip-top is, uh, there are airlines that aren't so hot.

• 33:00Speaker 04

  Right, but you don't want to name, okay.

• 33:02Speaker 03

  I'm going to stay away from naming who the dogs are. Just, SkyTrax does a great job tracking international airlines. Use it. You can find online reviews that will tell you how awful every airline in the world is at one point or another, right?

• 33:19Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 33:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:21Speaker 04

  The best thing would be airlines that have multiple flights a day, though, for sure, because then if one gets canceled, you're not stuck for days.

• 33:27Speaker 03

  That is true. All right, but I'm excited. I want to, I want to go to Asia again. You got me all thinking about it. Oh, well, not today. But have a great day, and I'm so glad you've joined us on this Monday. And as always, for me, there's never a bad moment of the week to talk about travel. I love it so much. Oh, just imagine if, uh, my wife is a good counter to me, because Lane is not, uh, she doesn't have my wanderlust, and she keeps me more grounded. If I didn't have that in my life, I wouldn't even own a home, would I?

• 34:08Speaker 04

  No, we'd never see you.

• 34:09Speaker 03

  I would just live in hotels, out of a suitcase, all over the world.

• 34:13Speaker 04

  Yeah. I would say Lane likes to travel, like, probably like a normal, average person does. You know what I mean? Like, you are just, the fact that, yeah, the fact that you'd live out of hotels makes you the extreme one, for sure. And there's nothing wrong with it.

• 34:28Speaker 03

  Oh, man. Anyway, thank you for being with us today. We're going to be with you all week, serving you every possible way with our podcasts, YouTube, YouTube Shorts, our websites, our newsletters, social media. Oh, me on, uh, I'm on TV every night of the week in a variety of markets on the news. A number of radio stations carry me morning and evening, during morning and afternoon drive. So the idea is wherever you want to be reached, wherever you want to see us, read us, hear us, we're there to serve you. So you will be empowered with knowledge in the format you prefer, so you can save more,

• 35:11Speaker 03

  spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. Have a great rest of your day.

• 35:15Speaker 00

  Modafinil was invented in the 1970s and has been used by the highest performers on and off the planet. Soldiers, pilots, and even astronauts aboard the ISS use modafinil in high-stakes situations where full concentration and alertness are paramount. And it's now available in liquid form to qualified patients at mod.com. Visit mod.com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order plus free shipping with promo code SPOTIFY at mod.com.

• 35:49Speaker 01

  Hi there. I am fully charged and here to tell you, Toy Story 5 is now on Disney Plus.

• 35:56Speaker 02

  It's been too long, cowboy.

• 35:58Speaker 01

  Woody, Buzz, and Jesse are back for a brand-new adventure with such seriously cool new tech.

• 36:04Speaker 05

  What? Holy butterscotch!

• 36:06Speaker 01

  You said it, Jesse. So save your batteries and watch the global phenomenon at home. And the best part? It's perfect for the whole family. Power up your movie night and watch Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5, now streaming on Disney Plus. Rated PG.