South Carolina’s place in American history

SPEAKER_01 0:00

You know, United States has 50 different states, but South Carolina was one of the first original 13 colonies. So South Carolina has been a part of the United States really from the first get-go, one of the original 13 colonies on the East Coast. And it's located between North Carolina and Georgia on the East Coast, if you're familiar with that. But south of Washington, DC, and north of Florida. So that gives you a little bit of an idea if you're familiar with geography. It's the place where the Civil War started. That's really important for a lot of people who are interested in American history. It's where the first shot of the Civil War started at Fort Sumter here. So for Americans, that's a pretty big deal.

Introducing Season 2 of Truly Expat Travel

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Welcome to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. I'm your host, Paula, and this is season two. On season one, I talk to expats about their favorite holiday destination. On season two, I'll be doing things very differently. I'll be chatting to expats about where they currently live, why they chose that destination, all those secret hidden gems that only locals know, you know, like favorite restaurants, best neighborhoods, things that tourists don't. Welcome to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. My name is Paula, and today I have a very interesting guest. We've only met just recently, but I feel like I've known her my life, my like a lifetime. So yeah. Let's get started. Let's find out who she is, where she's talking about, and a little bit about, you know, the place and the destination. Because it's a place that I hadn't thought about traveling to until I spoke to her recently. So yeah, welcome, Shannon. Who who are you?

Meet Shannon Bednarova and hear why she moved to South Carolina

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Where are you from? And where are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Okay, well, I'm Shannon Bednarova, and I am a podcast host as well. You can find me on Lady Well Traveled. And I am delighted to be here, Paula. Paula was a guest on my show. And as she mentioned, we just hit it off like a house on fire. And so yeah, I'm thrilled to be here. I currently live on the Isle of Palms in South Carolina. And South Carolina is in the United States. If you're not familiar with it, it's one of the 50 states. And it's really right now the hottest state to move to out of all 50 states. And so Paula was like, hey, I think I need to have you on Truly Xpat so you can talk about what it is like to move to South Carolina. Because actually I moved to South Carolina pr fairly recently. So, and I'm getting ready to move again to a different part, just uh right down the road, actually, for where I live now. And uh so she said, Hey, come on and tell people about this wonderful place that you live. And I said,

Why South Carolina is attracting new residents

SPEAKER_01 3:20

I'd love to.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Yeah, because like you said before, it is the number one place for people to move to at the moment. And why do you think that is? What what is so special about South Carolina?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Oh my goodness, there's just so much wonderful stuff here. Well, first of all, I want to give your listeners a little bit of history about South Carolina. So, of course, you know, United States has 50 different states, but South Carolina was one of the first original 13 colonies. So South Carolina has been a part of the United States really from the first get-go, one of the original 13 colonies on the East Coast. And it's located between North Carolina and Georgia on the East Coast, if you're familiar with that. But south of Washington, D.C. and north of Florida. So that gives you a little bit of an idea if you're familiar with geography. It's the place where the Civil War started. That's really important for a lot of people who are interested in American history. It's where the first shot of the Civil War started at Fort Sumter here. So for Americans, that's a pretty big deal.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Andrew Jackson, who is an American president, was born in the state in March of 1767. So he's the only American president that was born here. So that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

But otherwise, we have so many wonderful things that we offer to people who want to come here. And I can talk about it all day long, but I think the first thing that I'd like to talk about is the

What the weather is really like year round

SPEAKER_01 5:01

weather. The weather is beautiful. Now it gets hot. I don't want to tell people, you know, and lead them astray because it gets hot. And, you know, for people who like live in Europe, I think a lot of people when they came over for FIFA and the World Cup, they they kind of learned what we mean in the United States when we say hot, because the South Carolina summers can be extremely hot and extremely humid. And yes, very, very humid. But uh the weather in the winter typically is very temperate. The climate is nice. So if you can make it through the really hot summers, you get rewarded with nice falls and beautiful springs and fairly temperate winters. And so the weather is so beautiful here.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Is there a is there a month or a season you would recommend for people to visit?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Well,

Low country coast vs upstate mountains

SPEAKER_01 6:00

fall, fall and spring are absolutely beautiful. South Carolina is very lush. There is so there are so many beautiful plantations to visit. South Carolina has two distinct geographical regions. There is the low country, which is an area, the area in which I live, which is like the coast. A lot of beach, a lot of palm trees, a lot of kind of like low-lying, swampy areas, but it's still very lush and a lot of beautiful, beautiful uh flora and fauna. But then there are also what's called upstate, and that has mountains and the beautiful kind of trees and and beautiful plants and flowers that you'd associate with a mountainous region. So is there's really something for everybody here. Uh so you can really see pretty much anything in South Carolina, and I think that's one of the things that makes it so attractive.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yeah, do you know what it is? I think when I think of South Carolina for some reason, I think it's because I've seen too many movies and shows and stuff. But I all I don't I didn't realize there was when you look at it geographically on the map, I understand now, but I didn't realize there was beaches. I had just thought it was mountains and it was kind of like the southern when I think of southern

South Carolina’s beaches and island communities

SPEAKER_02 7:22

America at all, I don't think of the beach for some reason.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

So that's beautiful beaches. I live at a place called the Isle of Palms, and there are so many beautiful beaches. Keel Island, Sullivan's Island, Folly Beach, uh Polly's Island, many, many different islands. Hilton Head, which is another incredibly beautiful area, and the beaches are just gorgeous. They're generally very wide, beautiful white sand beaches with calm waters, and they're lovely for families to come to and rent a cottage for like a week or two weeks and stay. The island that I live on is about 30% rental properties, 30% of people live there here year-round, like I do. And the, you know, and then 30% of the people are kind of mixed use, so it just depends, but it's just absolutely beautiful. And and here a lot in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach is another gigantic resort area. It's one of the biggest resort areas on the East Coast. And, you know, for beachgoers, it's huge. So people come from all over the United

Why Charleston works for families, couples, and solo travelers

SPEAKER_01 8:43

States to come to the beach in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Would you say it is a destination for families or for you know, solo travelers like myself or couples or everybody?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

It's a destination for everybody because South Carolina truly has something for everyone. Where I live, the Isle of Palms, is a beautiful place to bring your family. But then right down the road is the gorgeous city of Charleston. And Charleston has the incredibly beautiful architecture that a lot of it was pre-Civil War, but then there was also gorgeous, gorgeous homes and gas-lit homes and gardens and just so many incredibly beautiful things.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

What happened?

SPEAKER_01 9:32

It's a very big foodie capital. It's just a beautiful

Charleston’s architecture, shops, and top-tier visitor appeal

SPEAKER_01 9:37

city with so many shops and antiques and art galleries. Uh, there are so many things to do here. Horse-drawn carriages and history and Oh my goodness. Charleston typically ranks, if not number one in the top five of places to visit in the United States.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Oh, okay. Well, I know you sold me last time, so you definitely saw me this time. So you

Charleston’s restaurant scene and chef-led dining

SPEAKER_02 10:04

you touched on food. Is there a dish or is there somewhere that you love to eat?

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Or is there a restaurant? Yeah. Oh my goodness. There are so many restaurants in Charleston that you, if you ate at a different restaurant every night, you couldn't eat at all the amazing restaurants. I love a lot of the different restaurants in Charleston. There are too many to even list. Goodness gracious, famous chefs have restaurants here. I'll give a shout out to Vivian Howard, for example, who owns Chef and the Farmer in Kinston, North Carolina. She opened a restaurant here called Lenore. I grew up in North Carolina and was born in Kinston, where Lenore County is, and she has a wonderful restaurant here. There's a fabulous restaurant called Slightly North of Broad, Snob, which is a favorite. Oh my goodness, there are so many incredible, incredible restaurants here that, like I said, you can just there are new restaurants that open up every week.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

And you can't keep you really cannot keep up with the number of wonderful restaurants. It's like New Orleans and New York and California, like LA, because there are that many incredible restaurants here. And the talent

Must-try dishes and Gullah Geechee food traditions

SPEAKER_01 11:24

that comes here, the chefs that come here to start restaurants, it's just phenomenal. And is there wrong?

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Is there a dish that you have to try?

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Well, I think a lot of people would say if you come to Charleston, you have to try shrimp and grits, obviously. That's something that a lot of people really love. It's pronounced different ways, but that is also like a gola dish, and gulla is like kind of like an add indigenous people that lived here and they were like former slaves, but they kind of mixed with kind of like the Creole people that but it's not really. It's like they spoke their own language and the uh Geechee people and they were island people and they lived off the land and lived off the water, and there are so many dishes, the gola and the gheechee uh people that they had, excuse me, so many different things like binny wafers, where they took the sesame seeds and they made these incredible wafers and just so many the the low country golden rice that they used to create these purlo dishes with seafood and sausage and all of the wonderful things that they have. So, I mean, when you come to Charleston again, you cannot go wrong with anything that you try because the food here is just spectacular.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

That's really interesting because that sounds very different to other parts of like southern the southern part of America because all I know is of fried chicken and goodness, no, and greens there.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

No, no. There is the South, Southern cooking is magnificent. You just have to try it. I love to cook myself, and we're so blessed in the United States because we have so many different we're the melting pot, and we have so many different cultures and cuisines that have brought their cooking here. And in the South, they take it and they elevate it and they add special touches and fresh produce and wonderful things that they grow in the garden and beautiful seafood and fresh meats, and we're just very blessed

Why Charleston is easy to explore on foot

SPEAKER_01 13:49

here in the south because we have wonderful cooking traditions and the food is just delicious.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

And if I was to visit Charleston, is it a walkable city or do I have to get a car?

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Absolutely. It's walkable. I mean, you may want to get a car, but yeah, the downtown area and the area called the Battery, where a lot of the extremely beautiful homes that, you know, are worth tens of millions of dollars.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Because of their historic value, they're gigantic. All of those areas are so walkable, and you would just want to walk. You want to walk and stop and you know, just take in the beautiful gardens and tour some of the different areas. You can tour some of the homes, stop and eat lunch at Rue de Jean, which is a wonderful French restaurant, and uh stop at some of the rooftop bars and have a drink, or get some pralines or pralines, however you want to say it, or maybe stop for an ice cream and maybe have an Aperol spritz on the street and stop at a gallery. There's so, so much to do here. There's a beautiful downtown market where you can get hand woven baskets that are made out of seagrass, and that is something that's very, very low country, very Charleston. That's a specialty of the people that live here, the Gola people and the Geechee people. So they're like I said, you can spend easily a week in Charleston and never get bored. You've you've sold me. You really have. You've you've painted the picture so beautifully.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Absolutely. So for someone

Where to start on a first South Carolina visit

SPEAKER_02 15:41

visiting South Carolina for the first time, where would you tell them to start? So you would they start in Charleston and then head down to the beach area, or what would you suggest?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Well, Charleston is certainly a great place to start, but there are other places that they can go as well. I mean, there are like I said, you know, there's if they love the beach, there are so many beaches to choose from. There's Myrtle Beach. Now, Myrtle

Choosing between Myrtle Beach, Isle of Palms, Hilton Head, and Kiawah

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Beach is kind of like a carnival atmosphere. It's kind of like Virginia Beach in that respect. There's gonna be, you know, just this huge boardwalk kind of scene. There's gonna be cut golf and there's gonna be hotels all along the strand, and there's gonna be so much to do. But if you're looking for a beach that's much more quiet and much more family-oriented, then you would want somewhere like Sullivan's Island or Isle of Palms. If you're looking for a very maybe say upscale type of place, Hilton Head or Kiowa might be a place that you're looking for. None of these places that I'm speaking about typically are very inexpensive, shall we say? Okay. Uh, South Carolina can be quite expensive, especially along the coast.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

There are other beautiful towns. Uh Beaufort, South Carolina is also very beautiful as well. But then there, like I said, there are also towns that are upstate that are really worth seeing. Uh, Greenville is is really neat. Columbia is the state capital, which is a cool place to see. You might want to go to Central South Carolina, where Clemson University is located. Um, and that is a humongous school, and that's really, really big when our football, not soccer, but American football comes about in the fall. And so there are so, so many places to see. Some of the biggest areas that people are moving to, and I think that's certainly important. Uh, there's a town called Tiga K, which is up in the upstate part of South Carolina that's near Charlotte, North Carolina, very near Charlotte. And that's a very popular area to move to. That's kind of like a suburb almost of Charlotte, that and Fort Mill, South Carolina. And those are kind of bedroom communities for Charlotte. And they're nice communities.

Growing communities near Charlotte and Charleston

SPEAKER_01 18:19

They're considered to be very safe. So if someone wants to move to South Carolina and enjoy everything that South Carolina has to offer, but still be near Charlotte and the Charlotte Airport, for example, if they travel internationally a lot, they may want to consider those two cities that are very, very near Charlotte. Some of the other areas that are notable, Mount Pleasant, for example. That's a city that's very near where I live now, and I'm getting ready to move to. That's very near Charleston and very near the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island. But it's more, again, more like a bedroom community, and more families are moving there and that kind of thing because Charleston's just overwhelmed, and the islands can't hold all the people that want to move here. Yeah. Because people will come to school here at this giant university, like the Medical University of South Carolina or the University of Charleston or Clemson, and they don't want to leave. They just want to stay here. So it's growing and growing so fast. So Mount Pleasant is another wonderful place that people are moving to very,

What to know about hurricanes, mosquitoes, and risk

SPEAKER_01 19:37

very much so. So there are so many things that are to look on the positive side, but then I want to also think about some things that people might want to think about on the negative. If you've ever been through a hurricane, you know, you are a lady who lives on the other side of the world. So you have typhoons. Yeah. But we have hurricanes. So uh South Carolina does have hurricanes. And now the last big one that they had was Hurricane Hugo, which was a cat five, and it was terrible.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

But that was a long, long time ago. That was, I think, in 89. But that's something that people have to think about. Moving here. There's also a lot of mosquitoes. If you don't like mosquitoes, you have to deal with them. You know, there's not, there's, you know, some

Hurricane season and how Atlantic storms form

SPEAKER_01 20:31

downsides. You have to think about that. But there are a lot of positives as well. When's hurricane season? What months? Hurricane season, yeah, and that's that's a very great question. Hurricane season starts June the 30th and actually goes until November the 30th. Oh wow. Hurricanes spawn actually off the coast of Africa, and then they come across the Atlantic and typically will go across the Caribbean and then up the East Coast. They also can go into the Gulf of America and that way too. Sometimes they fizzle out. Sometimes they never hit America, the United States. Sometimes they just fizzle out in the Atlantic. But that's typically how they form. And so, you know, this is hurricane season right now. We've been very blessed. We haven't had anything really, much of anything happen.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

But it's time. It's time.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

It's good to know when people are planning. Absolutely. You mu you mentioned before mountains. Can you go hiking? Is it a hiking? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

It's beautiful hiking and all kinds of trails. There are beautiful freshwater

Hiking, lakes, rafting, and outdoor activities inland

SPEAKER_01 21:48

lakes for swimming and boating and canoeing and and you can uh there are rapids and you know you can do white water rafting. So, like I said. It's not just a beach town, a beach community kind of place. There are, you know, real the mountain experience as well, or the hill experience, so that you can go and hike. And in the fall, you know, you're gonna go and see the leaves change and they're gonna be beautiful, and the autumn is gonna be so pretty. Um, and you know, where I live currently at the beach, you've got palm trees, and yeah, there are other trees as well, but then you go just right up the road and you're gonna be able to see the beautiful fall leaves. So there's something for everybody here, and that's what makes it so great.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah. I do love a spring and a s and an autumn. I do kind of like the off sea like not like kind of a shoulder season. I'm kind of starting to really love those experiences because you don't want to go in it's super busy in summer. Right. So that kind of be yeah, like I said before, you've sold me. I'm glad,

Why you will need a car in South Carolina

SPEAKER_02 23:03

yeah. So if is it a I know I know we spoke about this before, so it is it an easy place to navigate, not just on foot, but can you catch public transport to the beach areas and Well No.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Okay. The United States typically is not a place where we have tons of public transport. First of all, the United States is huge. And you know, our most of our states are the size of a lot of countries. That's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

And you know, when you're in a city, sometimes you can catch a bus or you can take an Uber or a taxi, or you can ride your bike. But for the most part, you're gonna have to rent a car or you're gonna have to have a car, especially if you're gonna want to get from city to city, place to place, that kind of thing. You're not gonna, if you're coming to South Carolina, you're not gonna want to fly between city to city, you know, like from if you're going from Myrtle Beach to Charleston, you're not gonna fly. You'll want to rent a car or drive if you have your own car, but you'll definitely need a car.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Mm-hmm. And if for those who just want to stay in Charleston, is it's difficult to get from the airport? Is it far?

SPEAKER_01 24:51

No, it's I mean, it's really not far, but if you want to stay downtown, you'll have to, of course, take a taxi or an Uber. It's very, very easy to do. The

Airport access, hotels, and beach rentals

SPEAKER_01 25:02

airport is small, but very nice and easy to navigate, easy to get around. Uh, they can drop you off. There are, of course, many gorgeous hotels in Charleston. There are some that are just absolutely stunning and come with stunning price tags. Then there are some that are, you know, a little bit more affordable. And of course, if you want to stay out by the airport, you're gonna get the ones that don't cost as much. And of course, there are Airbnbs and things like that and rental houses all along the beach, properties that you can do like that as well. But there are so many different places that you can stay and enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 25:50

So if you had a friend coming to visit and you wanted to take them and they were only here for three days, where

A three-day Charleston itinerary

SPEAKER_02 25:57

would you take them? What would an itinerary look like?

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Oh my goodness. Well, I probably would take them to one of the beautiful plantations around here because plantation life, you know, slavery was a huge part of what this place was about, you know, whether good or bad, of course. But the plantations were a huge part of the economy pre-Civil War. And the homes, the gardens, everything there, many of them are still there and they're incredibly beautiful. And I think it's worth people seeing how the South really operated and how the economy operated. The homes are gorgeous, the gardens are gorgeous. And although plant the word plantation has so many negative connotations with it, yeah, I really think it's important for people to see that part of history. You know, I really do. And I would take people to see that because I think I think it's worthwhile. I would also take them to see a downtown Charleston. Let them walk around, take them to the downtown market, Market Street is what it's called, because there they can go and they can see all of the, you know, gola and geechee people with their hand woven baskets and the hand the hand-raised spices and and things like that, and see what the people who have lived here for generation after generation after generation bring to the table and the things that they sell and their artwork and things that they make. Let people walk up and down King Street and see the beautiful shops and the stores and the art galleries and the restaurants. And here again, there's something for everybody. You know, there'll be a vape shop that sells THC products right next to a Gucci store. You know, there's there's something for everyone. Uh, there's a cigar place right next to a very high-end ladies' boutique. So, you know, you can find something for anyone that you're traveling with. Take in, like I said, a rooftop bar and have a drink, whether or not you drink alcohol or whether you don't just go up there and have a nice sweet tea. Sit up there and watch the sunset. And uh just enjoy. Do definitely do a horse-drawn carriage ride because all of the carriage drivers are historians and they tell the most wonderful stories.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Oh my goodness, I would encourage you to do that because they're so, so fabulous, and they tell such amazing stories about the city that you won't get anywhere else. And that you're just captivated and sitting there like, wow. And that's just such a great way to see the city. Take some time, walk around the battery,

Final travel advice for visiting or relocating

SPEAKER_01 29:08

walk around the back streets and see the beautiful homes and the gardens, and there will be shade because it will be hot if you come in the summer.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

And just enjoy, soak it in. Take a minute to sit down and watch the world go by. Those are the things that I would do. And I would also go to the beach because the beaches are stunning.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

Wow. I mean, you've you've definitely romanticized the place. I'm definitely coming there.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

You should. Come on. You know, you've got a place to stay with me.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Oh, thank you. I definitely will be putting it on my bucket list.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Is is there any other tips or anything else you'd like to let people know before we go? My goodness.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Well, I just think that if you're looking for a place to retire or a place to move, let's say you are disinterested in getting out of the place that you live because you're like, yeah, I'm I'm just not enjoying where I live and I want to start over. You know, South Carolina is a great place. Maybe not right at the coast, you know, for affordable living, but for most of the state, it's quite affordable. There's a temperate climate, it can be hot in the summer, but for the rest of the time, it's really, really nice. I think there's outdoor activities that you'll love. It's very family-oriented. There's so much culture, there's so much to do. I just I think that you really would owe it to yourself. Visit, tour around, see what you find. There's so much to do and such a richness. The people are so friendly. And I think that you really would feel at home in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

I think that you've given some great advice there.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Can you just repeat where they can find you again? Sure. Again, I am Shannon Bednarova, and my podcast is A Lady Well Traveled. And you can find me on all of the streaming platforms, and I'm also on YouTube. And if you want to get in touch with me, you can email me at Shannon at a Lady Welltraveled.com. And that's traveled with two L's. And I'd love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

That's a good point. That's a good point because traveled, most people spell it with a like depending L. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

And I, you know, truthfully, when I was designing my logo, I liked the way it looked with two L's, the European spelling, and I said, so that's the way it's going.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you, Shannon. It's been a real delight. Thank you, Paul. And I hope to see you again soon.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Thank you, everybody, for listening to the Truly Expat Travel podcast. And I will see you next week. Safe travels. Thank you for joining me on the Truly Expat Travel podcast. If you liked this episode and you found it valuable, then why don't you go ahead and like and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode moving forward. I've got some amazing guests and some fantastic destinations coming up. But if this is the episode and this is the destination that you really want to go to, then I suggest you head over to truly expatravel.com where you'll find travel guides and deep dive into this sort of destination. If that's not what you want and you can't find an episode that is a destination you want to travel to, then head over and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, because I'm pretty sure you'll find something there.

unknown 32:49

All right.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

In the meantime, safe travels and I'll see you next week.