Have you ever wondered how to unboil an egg or why tennis balls are yellow?  Lucie Frost is here to answer that and more in her factoid-filled memoir, How the Hell Did I Not Know That?, which was published last week.

“This project quite literally pulled me from the couch to the world–I feel more aligned with myself since starting this book journey,” she says. 

After retiring as a lawyer, Frost found herself stuck on the couch and many seasons deep in reality TV. One day, while watching 90 Day Fiance, she started wondering about the intricacies of the show; she started googling. After falling into a deep Google spiral, she realized that there were so many tidbits of information that we don’t think about, like why the sky is blue. She started sharing her findings on Instagram Reels, which in turn led to her writing her book.

NextTribe takes small groups of women ages 45+ on fun, immersive trips across the country and around the world. Learn more here.

When she’s not googling or writing fabulous books, Frost is traveling the world. She attributes her thirst for exploration and travel to living in Guadalajara, Mexico, as a child, and her study abroad in Paris in college. She says she will jump at any opportunity to go back. When she heard NextTribe had an upcoming trip to San Miguel, she was ready to take the leap and try out group travel for the first time. As someone leery of group trips, Frost says with confidence that Nexttribe trips are different from your average trip. It’s a “community”.

“NextTribe has given me friends from all over the country, it’s one big community of women who love to travel and are always doing fun and interesting things,” she says. 

Where do you reside? 

San Antonio, Texas

Marital status? 

Divorced

Occupation? 

Retired employment lawyer, now writer, of this Book!

What convinced you to take your first trip with NextTribe? 

Jeannie Ralston held a social get-together in San Antonio (2018 or 2019). I had recently retired and knew I needed to build community outside the work world, so I went to the gathering. I immediately connected with her. She mentioned an upcoming San Miguel trip. I had never been on a group trip before (and actively avoided those), but in a what-the-hell moment, I booked the trip. To this day, it is one of the best trips I’ve been on in my life — and I travel a LOT.

How many NextTribe Trips have you attended? 

Ten? Maybe more at this point. I tell myself I’ll book two trips a year, but sometimes I go over. My first trip was to San Miguel–as previously mentioned. Having grown up in Mexico, I’ll take any excuse to go back.

What’s your favorite thing about traveling in a group of all women? How does it differ from traveling solo or with a partner?

Developing friendships. The trips have an incredible way of bonding people, and quickly. I consider some of the women I’ve met on trips very good friends now.

Favorite place to visit and why?

San Miguel, of course! The trip is so immersive, especially with Jeannie in charge. I loved spending time with the local women celebrating Day of the Dead, of course. The whole trip feels like you’re visiting friends. Honorable mentions are the Umbria trip and Paris–of course! [Lucie was a co-leader on three Paris trips.]

What’s your dream travel destination?

Croatia has been on the bucket list for quite a while, and I’m now booked to go with NextTribe next year. I’m very excited! I will jump at the opportunity to go on a trip with good swimming, and Croatia has some of the most beautiful beaches.[Lucie will be in Croatia with NextTribe in May.]

Do you think it’s acceptable to wear sweatpants on a plane? If not, what’s your go-to outfit?

Of course! I have a Frank & Eileen travel set uniform that I tend to wear on long flights.

Do you have a favorite souvenir from your travels?

For a while, I was collecting pins from every post-retirement trip. I put them all on a denim jacket. Once the jacket got too heavy to wear, I gave up. I’m thinking I may start over, but with patches this time. But I do love to wear that heavy jacket.Do you have any travel rituals or tips that you swear by?Add a Google alert so you can track any post-booking price changes for your flights. It feels like free money when you can get a pre-trip refund. And bring laundry hooks/clips like these. Hotels never have enough hangers, and these are easy to pack.