Exploring Map to Moments: Deejay Laughbon’s Journey to Stress-Free Travel Planning

Hello everyone, this is Howard Fox and welcome back for another episode of the Updoor Adventure Series Podcast. Our guest today is DJ Lafbaum. DJ is the founder of Map to Moments, a travel planning platform inspired by the belief that planning shouldn't be the most stressful part of a trip. DJ, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Welcome. Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. I really appreciate uh you giving me some time to come and talk with you. It is our pleasure. And first off, I just want to acknowledge our good friends at Podmatch because this is how I uh met DJ. Uh PodMatch is a great site if you are a podcast host or a want-to-be guest like DJ, and it's a great place to get both parties to meet up and schedule some episodes. And first off, DJ, uh you're a voracious book reader. I just a lot of nice bookshelves behind you, but where are you located? Um, I'm currently in Mill Creek, uh, Utah. Yeah. Okay. Now I know where Salt Lake City is. I know where the mountains are to go skiing. So are you nearby? Oh, yeah. Like I did. So I'm probably 10 minutes out of the city city proper, uh, and probably 10 minutes away. Like the mountains are are there. They're back. So we did did you grow up uh in the uh in this area of Utah? And are you a ski bomb? I guess I should ask that. I actually grew up in Oregon. Uh yeah to be specific if you have any Goonies or kindergarten cop fans in your yeah. So very nice. Thank you. And then uh when uh came here for uh high school and college stadium. Okay, very nice. In Oregon, uh that should have been a giveaway for your uh your T your sweatshirt. I'd rather be in my garden. Uh my my roommate is from Oregon, and uh she and her and her boyfriend are like, okay, we got to get back up there because in Vegas we we've got a lot of uh it's brown, oh yeah. Beautiful, but brown. All right. So, first off, uh so thank you again. And a little bit about what is map to moments and what was the this aha moment of why why this type of service is gonna be needed. Oh, great question. Uh, to answer that, I'm gonna roll back just a tiny bit, give you a little bit of background on me. Go go back as far as you need, all right. Awesome. I so my family uh grew up getting out camping as as much as we could. Anyone's familiar with the West Coast area. We went to Fort Clatz, Battery Russell, Canada Beach, that kind of area um a lot. And just have memories and memories of very wet summers um in a tent, like going out and just wandering around some big massive trees. And it was you you were in Oregon, by the way. Yes. Yep, so big trees and lots of rain and and green. Yep, didn't know anything different. And then when we moved to Utah, uh we got out quite a bit then as as a family as well. And and my mom and dad really took it on. I did not think about how much coordination it took. And often on these trips, it wasn't just our family. We they often invited people to come in. And again, it was just like, oh, this is just what we do. And then fast forward a while into adulthood, something named COVID happened. Don't know if you heard about it. I I I moved to Las Vegas during COVID. What was I thinking? But go ahead. And uh several of our my friends, I still had my work, but they got in that weird limbo, like, you're laid off, but you're okay because we were getting checks. And um, we just realized we're like, because those of us who were working, we were working remote, we're like, why are we staying in our houses? Like, let's let's go. And that's where I really got to explore Utah. We went camping on so much BML land and really figured out how to actually get remote internet. Thank you, Starlink, and yeah, like that. Yeah. And uh it was it was wonderful, it was great to go out and explore it. So that's that's an important piece, and again, always with with groups, and I'll come back to why that was what we were all of us, our friends included, had also been doing that since we're kids. So we knew how to just throw what you needed in the car and go. And then fast forward again. Uh, I'm uh living with my uh with my husband, and he at the time we're working on his green card. And both I, he's from Peru, a little bit around him. And when he was growing up in Peru, backpacking was a huge part of his life. Sure, sure. He's used to like, let me grab my bag and let me go. But when he came to the States and we got married and we were working on the green card, it was very much like, hey, you need to stay, stay where you are, don't go anywhere. And so both of us having this strong background of like, oh, we're gonna get out in the world and we're gonna go enjoy it, to all of a sudden be handcuffed and in one spot, we were like, Oh my gosh, this is this is a bit painful. Um and I realized we were we were talking, and um I had I really this is actually how mapped moments started. Sorry, I know lots of little background bits, but we'll get there. So he's we had gotten to the point where the pressure was a bit too much, and we were like, We need to go somewhere, we need to travel, we'd taken a few car trips. He was like, DJ, you he's like, you need to leave the US, you need to go have a trip trip because you're dying. And at the time Ed Sheeran was playing, who I I really love, all his mathematic albums. I started listening to them in 2011 when 18. By the way, you're just going, but I know I know I'm joking. I do go, I at my age, I do know who he is, I know he's somewhat important. He had a bit role in Game of Thrones, but okay, I digress. Oh, yeah, massive. He was a very important soldier, right? Oh, yeah, sorry, and so my husband really encouraged me because I enjoy him so much. He's like, This is the last year of his tour, this is 2025. He's like, Why don't you plan a trip and you go see him? And I was like, by myself, because again, I'm very used to traveling with everyone else. And he's like, Yes, just go, just go, enjoy by yourself, get out of here. So I went to go put the trip together. Uh, and I even requested AI's help because I I first had to pick in which country I was going to see his concert because he wasn't performing in the US, he was performing all over Europe, right? And uh AI unfortunately was really off on like the prices uh for things, and so that was the first time I thought to myself, I'm like, we actually do have the technology, and I know AI is being a bit broad. I was like, I could come in and make this more specific and help people do these calls to be like, hey, I live in Salt Lake City, I want to go see Ed Shear, and here's all his tour dates, okay, which is financially going to be the best one for me to go, and for it not to pull back an estimation, but to pull back like real things. I'm like, just no one's built it that detailed. So that was the first increase. I have to I have to stop for one second. Are you a tech nerd? Are you a geek? Yes. Okay, just just checking. I'm a recovering IT business consultant, but you're starting to kind of speak my language, but uh okay, this is cool. Okay, so please continue. Perfect. I interrupt a lot, by the way. I don't I don't know if you're you got a sense of that. Okay. Oh no, you're fine. No, I I appreciate that. Also, when I start my IAT recovery journey, I will give you a call and get some tips, but I'm not quite ready yet. All right. So that was my my first inkling of like, oh, we can make something better for and I was thinking in concerts at that time. Okay. And so I started taking notes of what could be improved, and I and I did go on the trip. I saw him in Copenhagen, it was amazing. Wow, okay. Yeah, and Copenhagen, if anyone hasn't been, but it's been like one of their oh, I could go, or it's been a bucket uh list. Yeah, a bit more expensive on the food side, but I was able to find reasonable accommodation and like so easy to get around the city. The public transportation, it's all buses, trains, all that's kept in one app, and they make it it's just tap on tap, they make it so easy. Whereas other places you need all these different things. So just this is gonna beg the the question is map to moments. I know we're gonna see the site shortly. You're gonna share your screen. Uh is it also uh uh a smartphone app? It will be when we publicly release it. So we're currently in uh a beta, uh which if people sign up for they get um prioritized pricing, like much better pricing for it. But when we're finally done with the beta and we're ready to just launch it out everywhere, we will launch the phone app at the same time. Gotcha. Okay, very good. Hey, do me a quick favor, shift your your computer just a little bit because I'm seeing the wall a little more, a little more right there. Perfect. Okay, there we go. Okay, so hang on one second. Three. I'm gonna do three, two, one, then just start again. Okay. Okay, so it we finish with yes, it's that's gonna be on the smartphone app. Three, two, one. So after getting back from Copenhagen, I realized I was like, um, well, I love going to concerts and I'm sure there's plenty of other people, but what else do people need help with when traveling? I'm like, let's not pigeonhole me in this mapped moments into one thing. So I started calling and texting friends and asking if I could talk to them for 15 minutes. And the big piece that came out is, and again, a piece that my parents and my friends handled so well and I grew up with, so I never would have thought this is a problem, is that coordination? It's finding like, hey, putting in one spot, where are we going? When are we leaving? Who's bringing what? Um, if we're leaving from different spots, like if I'm coming in from Salt Lake, but say you're coming in from Denver, Colorado, um, how are we getting there? And I thought that was so interesting. Cause again, and this goes to my background story of my parents, like they just did that. But now I have a number of people in my life who are like, oh yeah, that really intimidates me. Like, I'm not sure how to get it. And I try to put together all these group texts with different people, and then we lose the information. Right. So we quickly figured out we were like, oh, you know what? If we make it easy to coordinate a group going anywhere, whether it be a camping trip or a concert or even a wedding, like you just input, hey, here are the things, and then once you invite other people, they can input their information and it keeps it in one spot. Okay. So it's like it's almost like uh uh say like a group Slack type of application where everybody's coming combine it with Trello or something like that. Yeah, where everybody's it's built for a group. The mo now get what the moments are. They could be a camping trip, they could be a wedding, they could be an edge ring concert. I would do for doesn't you know I don't I don't go to concerts, let's just say that. So get that out of the way. I barely even go to sporting events. I go out to the desert, I do go out to the desert. Uh so okay, so I those are the different kinds of moments. And um so the story continues. Yeah, so that was so now I've had my personal input and taste and input from my friends and family, and that was the how mapped to moments was was burst in and kind of came forward the idea. So from there finding people to help me build it and stuff like that, which I will say I have an absolutely amazing team um behind me here. We're hodged podged together, but uh you'll soon see they have done some really incredible work. I'm very proud of them. Okay, very good. So I do have to ask, what is is map to moments uh a growing side hustle? Is it your is it your total pursuit or or do you have a like me, have a a day a week job, day job? I I do have a day job, uh and then definitely my up to five to ten every day. I put a lot of time into this and I want it to become my my full-time, but it's still next. You're believe me, you're speaking to the choir here, and I'm a I'm an executive coach, career coach, so I totally get that because my day job usually when I'm not doing a podcast is the coaching, and then five to ten or nine for me. You're young, you can do 10 o'clock I can't, uh yeah, it takes effort, takes commitment, and it's good that you have friends that are also helping you along the way with great insights and the hence the the beta testing. So I would love to see uh map to moments and take us on a little tour of that. All right, let me and while you're doing it, I do have a question. Your husband, how is he is he feeling satisfied that he's gonna be a part of these journeys with you now? Oh, yes. So we have since uh 2025, we have actually gotten the green card and he is currently uh serving in the Navy. That's what he wants to to do. Okay, so once uh we were just talking about this the other day, actually. Once he has uh his first good amount of leave, he was like, Where do you want to go in the world? So we've talked about Greece, we've talked about Uruguay, uh, we've talked about Italy, so we have a lot of ideas that we're thinking through. Gotcha. And he probably, since his day job is the Navy, uh, and it's not gonna be on a boat. Yeah, no. He's like, You don't need a cruise. I'm good. You're good. All right, I get enough of that. All right, so we are on map to moments. By the way, I love the logo and the the font of map to moments. There's something about it that just it's almost um, and I don't know if it would be antiquish, but it just kind of pops out. So and I love the the color palette as well. So nice. So this is uh the landing page uh when you first come, just to kind of get everyone familiar with it, kind of explains a little bit of the assistance that we provide. Um and hit subscribe or join the beta to the subscribe will bring you here. Uh, and this is to get our newsletters. So if you're like, hey, I just want to be in the loop, that'll show you that. If you hit join our beta, oh, that's right here. Oh, I thought it'd take us to a different one. Never mind, it's the same thing. But if you've already signed in, there's a little sign in at the bottom, which I do already have an account. So I'm just gonna imagine that. That'd be a bit weird if I didn't. Oh I thought I grabbed my password. Hang on. Sorry. This is real time, folks. We're in the moment here. Yeah. All right, and then yeah, so this is the homepage where by date uh suggesting upcoming larger concerts, you know, that's my influence. I can tell I was gonna say your music influence, it's not lost on me. Okay. I'm really glad. And again, these are by date. So if you for your listeners, if you know an upcoming artist that you want to go see and you know the date that they're going, um, you can either put them in here. So uh I do believe Lady Gaga is still touring. I know she was last year. Let's look her up really quick. We had time. I do have a Lady Gaga story, but that's okay. Okay, I would go, I would actually go see Lady Gaga. I actually would want to see her. Oh, it's a tribute, Lady Gaga tribute. This is a tribute, and it is actually passed on April 9th. Oh no, this is 2027. Wow, that's a really early tribute. And it's in Ghent. Anybody uh want to go to Belgium? Ghent is a cool place to be. There we go. So you can look up, and again, in beta, this is why people get so it's a one-time $25, but then you don't pay anything else for a year. So we will be going live and when the subscriptions start, uh you won't pay anything for that first year that the subscriptions go. So it's not 25 from when you sign up from the beta, it's um the year starts when uh the when we actually go live, not during the beta phase. If gotcha, gotcha. So if I like I I like to travel, international travel. I one of the places I want I'm I'm very much a foodie, a photographer, liked day hiking. I say I want to go to Morocco. Yeah. Okay. Would I be able to do that now? Or is that or you're just you're just totally loaded with music right now? So the uh we're very much suggesting music at the moment. However, let me show you. So would you have to do that? Well, wait a minute. So hang on. So my good friends in Canada, they're they're uh the wife is she's handing in her final grades, and so she's gonna retire from academia, and they're like pearl jam. I don't know. They're in a pearl jam, which you are to Ed Sharreen. Okay, they'll go all over the world to see Pearl Jam. Perfect. Okay. Let's see if we have uh because we are pulling um specific Seattle's finest. Okay. I'm not sure if these are Pearl Jam. I don't know. We got Hull, Margates, Shrewsbury, Cardiff, so that's all the UK and uh Wales. Well, okay. Okay, so let's let's let's uh take us wherever you want to take us. I'm kind of being flippant here. Oh no, you're good. Um so again, the the key piece that we do really well right now is we help to get everyone on the same page. So even let's just go ahead and start with a hole here. Um so you select where you want to go, this event, and then you create trip. And now we're gonna talk you through getting all of those items around that trip created. So I'm not gonna take home because it takes quite a bit of time, but like you can see the first question is do you want to arrive a day or two before? Or you can say, Oh, uh I'm gonna arrive day of, day after. It's very flexible. Then it'll ask you, are you flying or are you driving in? And you'll start to build your trip with the chat pot. Um, and then I'll come over here to Saved Trips to show you some. I'm actually going, I'll show this one. I'm going to go see my husband here pretty soon. Uh he's in Florida, as I'm in Utah. And so here's an example of a trip that I built out using the chat box. So I can show you this here. So here's um all the conversation that I had uh with it. I'm actually going when I go to Miami, I am going to a business conference originally. So I've told it, like, hey, here's where my business conference is, here's the location, and then I've told it it's like because it was trying to get me to drive, I'm like, oh no, I'm flying. And then I'm like, and then I want to go to Pensacola and then from Pensacola to Utah because I'm gonna go over to Pensacola to see Frank, my husband. That's where he is. So I've been to Pensacola, that's a cool place. Well, I'm excited to explore it. If you have suggestions, you should check out. Go uh Gulf Shores in Orange Beach, go to the Florida Bama. It's on the border of Florida and Alabama on in the panhandle. I went to a couple years ago, the Outdoor Writers Association of America. It's one of the groups I'm a member of. We had our annual conference down in Gulf Shores, but that whole beach area from Pensacola, and Pensacola is gorgeous, nice little small town, but um you gotta go, you gotta take a drive to the floor, Bama. All right. We love it. Yeah, there's a great state park there right on in Gulf Shores, really nice state park. Oh, perfect. Yeah, I just took a note of that. So, and we love stake parts. Um as you can see, I put in including my uh flight information, my hotel information, put that all in here, and then it keeps it for me. And now you can see, so it's showing me hey, this is your journey. You're gonna leave your house over uh here's the hotel that you're gonna stay at, here's your flight, um, here's the business conference that you're going. to here's your flight to pensacola here's your Airbnb Pensacola back to Salt Lake and here it goes and then it helped track of it yeah so if if others were involved in this journey would they then be in this this map that we're seeing right now they would see their own version of it so I see mine and then they see theirs and then uh very very soon in fact we were just I saw the demo of this last night so I think this is only a week or two away up here there will be an option to that'll say uh like see group trip and when you click on that that's where it will show everyone but it took us a little while to figure out how to get each person's correct information all the same page without it being messy. So I'm excited that we solved that and that's coming out again next week or the week after like very nice. What when is the beta test anticipated to kind of end in like your live we so our hard stop is uh by the end of September but if we work out the kinks that we're focusing on before September then it might be cut early. Okay and so right now to join you can sign up the beta $25 the beta once it's over that's when the the the year clock starts and then af after that it's whatever the the full price full price is okay yes very cool I mean I again I'm not a music person I I do get the concert fit and but I think it it's it's fun I think the power of the internet the power of AI and the all the various sites that are that are out there to pull information together and it's just it's totally amazing and uh it's is your sense from having conversations with your friends and beta testers that you are solving a problem with this application. Yes the um on the coordination's a big one the other piece that's uh really big is sometimes people want to think just think through a trip and then save the options that they like and that's the other piece that they're uh really liking so we're not trying we're not trying to replace like Travago or Kayak or even Delta. We do send you out so if you're like oh I want to fly Delta here's my flight we'll make some suggestions and then we'll send you to Delta to book that trip. We don't actually do that booking but we'll keep the information um on mapped to moments so that we can say like hey here's all your flight stuff so it's really great for the people who um ask you a lot they're like oh yeah when when are we leaving when are we meeting when was the reservation okay so I do have a question it's not intended to be a gotcha question so apologies in advance so if like I'm going to the OWA's annual conference in Madison in August and last week American who I am flying with said hey we've changed your flight will that will I get a prompt on my itinerary that's that's listed in map to moments that hey there's a there's a change to your itinerary not yet because we're working on the integrations pieces with the uh airlines and I I'll be honest that's probably it depends on the airline some of them are actually very uh like hey here's the stuff online and some of them have nothing for those integrations so okay all right fair enough but we it's definitely something we thought about because we want it to be as automated as possible gotcha no I love it I love it so what given what you've shared today and the their your punch list of what you want to accomplish by the end by early uh in in the fall where do you see like a year from now where would you like to be what would be different so like a year from now oh um definitely a lot more customization to to the person so you had said hey I'm not a concert person like I but but what what do you love to do what are things you're like oh events you would like to travel for okay oh that wasn't I thought that was a rhetorical question uh oh no well if if I were going to go to let's say Morocco because I just did an episode uh gentleman as Dean uh from Morocco he he takes people on trips from the US mostly and they spend a week two weeks there I would like to go on a camel ride in the Atlas Mountains I mean I I'm sure that's far fetched but for but go on a a trip to Buckingham Palace in in London that's an easier one okay so let's say um let's kind of loop that under like more historical tours right like we figure out oh hey historical tours are more Howard's jam and then Susie loves anything to do with nature and you two are going on a trip together we are now not suggesting concerts we've gotten to know you guys better we now um have by the way is is that your chief engagement officer yes yes chief engagement officer of cuddles his name is it's very important what what what what is the name Zuko Zuko all right now I made the mistake um on an episode I just published this week of assuming the dog was male and it turned out to be female is Zuko male or female male yep now thank you i i didn't want to make I didn't want to be presumptuous yeah here and then let's I love to have a Zuko's there excellent it's okay don't Zuko is a feature chief engagement officer and that's totally fine. Yeah and then he we have his assistant might pop up here to a black lab and his name is Apollo they're brothers and they're good boys. Very nice very nice so we want to get to the point to understand our users and whenever they are like oh this is what I want to do we're now suggesting so you can go in here let me um just kind of show one other thing really quick so you can come in here to design your own journey and then and you can say hey um I want to go to Morocco is M-A-C-S M-O-O-T's dok let's just do uh uh Buckingham Palace or London don't go to London I want to go to London okay so it can go this doesn't require uh putting in anything that's concert related I can just play trip from scratch here okay and it gives you sometimes it gives us these nice short prompts to kind of just help with quick answers and this is just where I was saying hey you can like think through some trips this is a great thing for like thinking it through and thinking oh what would I want to do and it'll even you're like oh yeah show me events Lady Gaga is probably at the Royal Albert Hall so we're we're we're gonna be good. Well here we go yeah so this area getting this to be like oh I know Howard this is what he's interested let me first suggest these and then of course you could tell us like no I want to do something different this time I want I wanted product eating experience or something we're like oh okay change it up so improving the events making it um smoother for customers um that's my my goal in in about a year when it's I love it well it would be very cool to see how it progresses and see what the the live looks like and then uh what a year from now looks like well very nice about that yeah excellent so we're excited yeah thank you thank you for and thank you for letting me uh share uh where we are at the moment oh it's my pleasure and also just as a reminder for our listeners uh if folks if they would like to learn more about map to moments and also to sign up for the beta the website right yes we also have some uh presence on Instagram um and on Facebook so please feel free to start following us over there as well to get some updates if you just want to follow for now we'd love to see excellent well we'll provide all the backlinks to map to moments and to the social sites Facebook and Instagram before we leave today I've got one question for you DJ as you kind of look back on this journey I mean you're you've you've traveling is is in your DNA uh whether it's in the greenery of Oregon or concerts in in Copenhagen and some some future uh destination what you're doing today how what's been the biggest aha moment in this journey that you have been undertaking uh honestly that it's doable and useful to people I I know that kind of seems a bit cliche but I have had like my whole career I've kind of always had like oh wouldn't this be nice or wouldn't this be convenient and this has been the first time that I've been like I'm gonna really actually try I'm like I'm gonna take this seriously and I'm not gonna lie at the very beginning of this I thought it'd be like a three month project that like my knitting career um that I set aside and was like oh I'm never gonna take again and then just the more I did it and the more I kept talking to people about it, they're like, oh yeah like that that will be useful. And people have been uh very politely honest about uh just the variations I've taken it through. They're like I see where you're going but I can't use it yet. I need this and I need this. And we're still in that phase for sure and feedback is super important um which is uh why we're offering it once we're live for a year you don't pay anything else because that the voices of others are really going to help us shine the this diamond. It's very much in the rough still so excited for that yeah excellent well yeah and I love it that you are curating a uh a positive experience uh for your users and the voice of the user is is very important and uh it's great that you're undertaking it and I can again I can I can tell there's a little bit of a geek in there uh very process oriented myself I don't just jump into things but uh I love it and so thank you uh for taking us on a tour of map to moments and sharing a little bit uh about your life and uh how you got here and we wish you the very best thank you so much Howard have a great day and thank you sorry before I do go I do want to thank you for your podcast in preparing I had been listening uh to several episodes and just very eye-opening the different listeners that you have so thank you for your platform and and what you're doing here it's it's I appreciate that thank you so much we'd love to I'd love to hear every once in a while I do need a pat on the back so thank you for that virtual pat on the back listen uh stay in a line we're gonna do a quick close and then you and I can have a final chat okay all right sounds good all right folks we have just been chatting with DJ laughbon three to one okay folks we have just been chatting with DJ Laughbon she is the founder of Map to Moments and she is embarking on this journey to create this wonderful uh platform for travel planning and as she likes to share it's inspired by the belief that planning shouldn't be the most stressful part of your trip really great uh little platform there uh we appreciate you taking the time uh to uh we appreciate that uh DJ uh took us on the tour of the platform it's still in beta and if you want to be a part of the beta make sure you go out uh to their website maptomoments.com and just click on the the registration and you can become a a part of this beta community and also uh we'll provide backlinks to uh the map to moments Facebook and Instagram pages those are still work in progress but if you uh find them just follow them and as those pages begin to populate stories and experiences you'll be able to uh be a part of that journey as well as for us this episode will be up on our website outdooradventures com. We're also on LinkedIn and Facebook on our outdoor adventure series pages the YouTube of this episode will be up on our YouTube page for the outdoor adventure series and of course you can listen to this episode wherever you're touring to wherever you're going that wherever the journey takes you wherever Ed Shereen is going to be you can listen to this episode or any other episodes on your favorite podcasting platform. All right folks wherever you are whatever you're doing go out there have a fantastic day and we look forward to having you join us on a future episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast take care