The Favourites of Scott Eddy

Scott Eddy is a world traveller, entrepreneur and social media influencer that has visited 73 countries focusing on luxury travel.

What are three of your favourite countries and why?

Thailand
Number one is always gonna be Thailand, and it has always been Thailand because that is when I truly experience kindness and nice people. I have more friends there than anywhere in the world. It starts and ends with the people. For me, especially here in the States, if you go to a big metropolitan city like New York, LA or Miami, the bigger the city you go to, the more aggressive people are, they are not very friendly, they are not very warm, it’s just all about business, but I find the people in Bangkok incredibly warm. That’s what really appeals to me.

Portugal
I lived in both Spain and Portugal (Spain for four years, Portugal for one). I find the two countries very similar. Similar architecture, similar food, similar in a lot of areas. The thing that I love more about Portugal than Spain is that I find Portugal a lot more welcoming to tourists and foreigners. It’s an incredibly exploding country. It’s a very underrated country from top to bottom, from the food to the wine, to the people, to the experiences there.

Sri Lanka
This is where it gets a little bit more difficult. I lived for a year in Colombo, and wow. Again it’s the people. Don’t get me wrong, the country is beautiful with tremendous experiences, but the people are just on an incredible level. I will never forget living there. I just absolutely love it.

Are there any countries you don’t enjoy travelling?

No. There are places that I’ve lived that I would never live again, but it’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just that spending long term doesn’t make sense at all. I lived in London for a year, and I would never ever live in London again. It’s a fantastic city, it’s fun, but it’s unnecessarily expensive. You want favourable conditions.

I find that people had a very one-sided mind. They go to work, they leave work, they go to the pub, they get smashed until they blackout, and then they go home, pass out and wake up to do the same thing again. That’s not how I live.

Three of your favourite cities and why?

Bangkok by far, not even close. Lisbon and New York. New York is a lot of fun. I have spent a lot of time there, and it was just fantastic.

Three of your favourite hotels or places you’ve stayed and why?

The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
It’s very special, and it’s on top of a skyscraper. You are basically in your room looking down on the rooftops of these tall skyscrapers. The last time I stayed there, I think I was on the 117th floor. It’s just ridiculous. It’s incredible.

Kudadoo Maldives Private Island
We spent 8 days there, and it was just over the top. We did some incredible videos there.

Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon
It’s really funny. Normally the rooftop (of hotels) is reserved for a penthouse, the biggest moneymakers, but they have a jogging track on the rooftop. Their gym and fitness place is the rooftop, and you are already on a hill, so you are overlooking all of Lisbon. The staff there is incredible, it’s a short ride into the city centre, the food is on another level, and the experience is just everything.

What are the three worst places you’ve stayed?

I don’t have scary stories for hotels. I am always working when I travel. I don’t just travel to travel. Most people in our industry travel, and then they figure out how to make money along the way or after the trip is over by writing an article, get sponsored blog posts, whatever. I travel as part of working, so my experiences are always flawless.

What are three of your favourite restaurants, and why?

Antonio’s Bangkok
An Italian restaurant in a converted house down one of the sidesois in Bangkok owned by an Italian/Australian guy, and he has lived in Bangkok longer than I did.

Prima Pasta in Miami Beach
It’s funny number one, and number two are Italian restaurants, and my favourite food in the world is Thai. It shows you it’s all about the experience.

Whatever street stall in Thailand
Those are the best food experiences I’ve ever had of my life.

What are three of your favourite travel moments, and why?

Uber driver in Lisbon
So I build my whole brand on Twitter, so it’s always my number one platform. I love it because it’s all about connections. Because I was very early on Twitter and built my whole brand on there, I’m connected with a lot of wine people all around the world. It’s one of the reasons I work so heavily in that industry. I landed in Lisbon, I called Uber, Uber comes to pick me up, and the guy goes, “Hey, you’re Scott”, and I’m like “, What”. “I follow you on Instagram for like three years man, I love you”.

We became friends, he took me all around. I ended up going to dinner at his house that evening meeting his whole family; oh man, it was like the best day ever. For me, the reasons I am so aggressive and active on social media is that it gets me to the point where I can meet new people in real life. The best use of social media, and what people seem to forget, is that all it is is a starting point. The finish point is actually meeting in real life.

He went to the same area as his father was in Vietnam
Here is something I’ve never shared before, this will be good for you. My dad was in Vietnam. When I was living in Thailand one time, I contacted a bunch of people and found out one of the areas that he was in, and I actually went to that area. There was nothing there, but I walked around that area. So that right there was like big. (Henrik asks: Emotional?). Scott continues: Yes, I think about that a lot.

Sunrise
I do the sunrise everywhere I go. Not only is it the best way to start your day, and it’s impossible to have a bad day after you’ve seen an incredible sunrise. Plus, the people that are up around sunrise doing their morning walk exercising. I talked to monks in Thailand and in the islands. I had this incredible conversation with a monk who was visiting Sri Lanka. He was in Colombo just walking down the street, and we ended up eating breakfast after the sunrise, and we sat there for three hours just talking. The guy was like the nicest guy in the world. The guy was never on his phone. Crazy stuff that is like mindblowing to the normal person.

Worst travel moments, anything really bad happened to you?

Well, no, I’ve never had a bad travel experience. I will tell you what I went through a few times, but it’s never a bad experience. I was in Bangkok when the tsunami hit Phuket. Three days later, I was down in Phuket, helping the Red Cross remove dead bodies. They didn’t have enough people.

What are three of your best travel tips?

I find it absolutely shocking that governments around the world have to do these campaigns for people to wash their hands often. It took a global pandemic to teach people to wash their hands. How dirty were you? I would never understand that. Airports / Airplanes are the dirtiest places on the planet. I always have sanitiser and wet wipes in my backpack. Always. Because before I sit down in my seat, I wipe down everything.

Before you enter a plane, take off your backpack because, inherently, it’s going to be a full flight. If you don’t take it off, you are going to swing it, you are going to hit someone in the head, you are gonna knock people over. Just take it off and carry it in front of you.

You can follow Scott on MrScottEddy.com, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter and YouTube.