October 23, 2024 • 52 mins
Ever wondered how holding multiple passports can transform your travel experiences? Join me, Matt Chambers, as I chat with a seasoned traveler who's explored 70 countries and is currently on the path to Canadian residency. We uncover the art of travel and passport strategies in our ever-changing world, exploring the freedom and opportunities brought by cross-cultural connections. From my adventures in Latin America and the United States to the intriguing prospect of residency in Paraguay, this episode offers insights into diverse travel paths, whether you're planning a local stint or eyeing remote work.
Bolivia, with its breathtaking salt flats and vibrant cities like La Paz and Sucre, comes alive in our conversation. Discover why it's a top pick for budget-conscious adventurers, as we share tales of biking down Death Road, visiting Potosi's silver mines, and navigating the cultural richness of Lake Titicaca. Personal anecdotes highlight the unique rituals and experiences that make Bolivia a treasure trove of natural beauty and cultural depth. If Bolivia isn't on your travel radar yet, it certainly will be after tuning in.
The journey doesn't stop there. We traverse the enchanting landscapes of South America and Southeast Asia, reflecting on memorable backpacking experiences. From the iconic Inca Trail and the charming streets of Cusco to the hidden gems of non-tourist areas in Southeast Asia, we discuss the joys and challenges of traveling off the beaten path. With budget travel tips and stories of sleeping on overnight trains to living in camper vans, this episode is packed with insights for both adventurers and planners. Whether you're a digital nomad or a weekend warrior, prepare to embrace the unknown and seek authenticity in every journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Matt Chambers Connects, a
podcast hosted by Matt Chambers.
This is the podcast thattranscends boundaries, empowers
cross-cultural connections andfosters a more connected world.
I'm your host, matt Chambers,and I invite you to join us on
this quest to expand ourunderstanding and build bridges
(00:20):
between my two favorite placeson the planet Latin America and
the United States.
I've been traveling, living anddoing business in Latin America
for nearly two decades.
You know you've been doing sometraveling man, which is why I
(00:48):
wanted to bring you on the showand I saw your profile and
you've been to like 70 countriesand I'm like man, I have to
have this guy.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I thought I'd done a lot right.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I've maybe done 30, like somewhere between 25 and 30
, I believe.
Which you know, compared to aregular Joe, it's quite a lot of
traffic and within those 25 to30 countries I've seen a ton of
cities in between.
But when I saw your profile andit said 70 countries, you know,
that's an excellent level.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, it's been a journey almost a decade right,
so it's not been like quicksuccession.
But yeah, I had a year triplast year, so that kind of added
to the account quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So yeah, is that kind of what you're doing?
Do you do um?
You know everyone has theirdifferent style of how they make
it happen.
Or you um I know you'remonetizing the podcast and then,
um, you're you just gettingremote work, or do you just go
back and work for a couple yearsand then hit the trail for a
year or what's?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
your strategy?
The strategy has been just worklocally two, three years, maybe
less, and then quit the job andgo.
But this year is a bitdifferent because we're trying
to get the passport for Canada.
So we have to be here probablyfor like 18 months.
So we're probably halfwaythrough that.
So we might as well get anormal job.
(02:06):
If you're staying here, youmight as well just work a normal
job and wait for that passportto come through.
So I don't think we'll be free,in a sense, until next summer
and then we'll decide what to do.
So you're in Canada now, yeah,at the minute.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
You're in Vancouver, right.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, I kind of want the two passports because I want
two options.
So I thought if I get thatticked off, that's good options
in the future.
And then, yeah, we'll see whathappens in in late next year.
But I think there's anothertrip coming, but only only if we
earn money on the road, not notquit jobs and have no income.
I think those days are over areyou looking?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
into any remote work at all, I mean, there's that'll
be the in the future.
Yeah, yeah, yeah um, so yeah,so you're trying to get your.
I mean, you're Australianoriginally, right?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
UK English.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Oh, you're UK, I get this mixed up man, as an
American, I get those accentsmixed up.
So you're from the UK andyou're trying to get a Canadian
passport as well, huh.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, because you might think oh, what's the point
?
Point, because they're kind ofsimilar.
But actually the britainleaving the eu makes it
difficult to stay in the eu fora longer period of time.
So the rule now, which for mostother countries is three months
at six, you can be in in the eu, but that's it.
You can't stay over 90 days outof 180.
(03:22):
But if you have a secondpassport you can just leave the
eu, go to uk for a weekend andthen come back on the other
passport, so you can be therefor six months and then the
whole year.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
You know, I don't know if you follow that guy.
There's a guy on youtube thattalks about having multiple
passports and uh well I mean,there's many people.
The guy nomad capitalist, he,he kind of has pretty boring.
His content is so boring it'slike accounting content.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
But hey, he has a lot of followers.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It's like 800,000 followers or something that he's
always talking about Buyingproperty.
He has a lot of property aroundthe world.
Very interesting the way thathe set up his business.
I don't want to take anythingaway from him at all, I just I
and I think what he does isperfect for the customer base
that he gives after.
He's always talking abouthaving you know, 10 different
passports and all this stuff.
(04:14):
So yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I mean, you know one that I want to get actually is
Paraguay in South America.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I don't know if you've done any research.
Oh no, south america.
I don't know if you've done anyresearch oh no, I haven't.
No, what's good about that?
You should look into it,because south america has the
americosor uh group, which is aconglomerate of, you know, 10 12
countries in south america thathave come together to.
You know they work together ona lot of trade and business
stuff.
So if you are a resident of anyone of those countries, you can
(04:43):
freely travel, do business, work, study whatever in any one of
those countries.
You can freely travel, dobusiness, work, study whatever
In any of the other countrieswith just your ID.
You don't have to have apassport or anything.
And Paraguay is, I think.
Personally, I think it's thebest one to have, because they
don't charge you any taxes forany money that you make outside
the country and any money thatyou make inside their country is
(05:06):
only 10%.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, and it only takes like two days to get the
residency.
Like fly down for a day or twoand apply for the residency and
my friend said, within like 48hours to maximum, like two weeks
max, you have the residency andthen, boom, you jet out and
there's no minimum stayrequirements where you don't
have to really ever come backthat's crazy, it's crazy and you
(05:32):
know my friend.
Uh, I was planning on goinglast year to check it out.
Uh, I've been wanting to go fora few years to check it out
actually but out of nowhere.
One of my buddies that I met incolumbia.
I called him a couple monthsago.
I was like where are you?
Are you?
He was like Paraguay.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I'm like why he's like I'm checking out this
residency down here.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We've been talking about that for the last couple
months.
I think he got it now.
He just went back about a monthago.
Definitely check that out,because it gives you access to
any of those Mercosur countrieswith just an ID.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
That countries with just an ID.
That's an unbelievable tip.
That is.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I'm about to do a podcast episode on it.
That's mental.
You get Colombia, brazil.
I think they mix Venezuela, butthere's a ton of South American
countries like Bolivia, chile,a bunch of them you can go to
and freely work, travel Out ofyour 70 countries.
Can you even pinpoint what youknow, your top two and three are
(06:30):
yeah, I get asked that a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Um, I probably do change it every day, but I do
put bolivia in there.
That's the, that's in the topthree.
Yeah, yeah, because I loved itthere.
Yeah, I have weeks there.
So I think, west to east, andthen the middle is a bit crazy.
It's completely different,right?
So the amount of stuff you seein Bolivia, from the salt flats
to the crazy mining towns likePotosi, la Paz, the crazy city,
(06:56):
to the very serene Sucre, thecapital, and then you go east to
Amazon, I think there's such awide range of things to see in
one country.
It's pretty crazy.
So I think bolivia is always upthere and it's one of the
cheapest places in south america.
So if people want to gosomewhere on the budget, that's
a pretty good place to go uh lapaz is pretty massive right,
(07:16):
aren't there about?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
yeah, huge million people there yeah, so it's like
a.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It's like a fishbowl right goes like in and crazy
hills everywhere and it's like afishbowl right.
It goes in and crazy hillseverywhere and it's like a bit
mental.
Taxi drivers are mental,there's hostels that are quite
partying hostels and yeah,there's so much going on.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I mean, do you see a lot?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
of foreign travelers down there.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Or is it.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
You know I don't hear about a lot of people traveling
there.
I've always wanted to go myself.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I think.
But La Paz, you'll find someand obviously the Salt Flats.
But on the whole, if you talkabout just general day-to-day, I
don't think you see manytravellers at all.
Yeah, I think it's quite aquiet country.
It's quite landlocked right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
What were the things that attracted you to it,
besides just the ability to seea bunch of different styles and
landscapes?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
What attracted me to it was definitely just the
landscapes Salt Flats.
What attracted me to it wasdefinitely just landscapes, salt
flats.
I wanted to ride down.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Death Road in La Paz.
Oh, you did a bike ride.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, yeah.
So that was a cool experience.
And then I wanted to go and seea mine.
So I went to Potosi to look inthe silver mine, which I think
is slightly ethical not sure,but you can buy presents for the
miners.
So you go to the marketbeforehand and there's like
things from like dynamite andtnt to children's books, to
(08:31):
cocoa leaves, to the foodanything that the miners might
need in their day-to-day life.
So we bought some dynamite,some children's books and some
cocoa leaves.
I think so, if you think aboutit, the cocoa leaves get some
food a day, they've got.
You think about it, the cocoaleaves get some food a day,
they've got.
You know that thing they chewon.
The dynamite helps their job sothey can blow up some stuff in
the mine, and then children'sbooks obviously for their
(08:57):
children.
So crazy experience yeah, youcan do like, you can book tours
and patosies to a silver minetool and if you're
claustrophobic or don't like thedark, wouldn't recommend it,
because you're going to have ahelmet on with a torch and
you're climbing up ladders andyou're getting led by this guide
who obviously knows where he'sgoing, but it's completely
pitched up and you sort of hitpointers in the mines.
(09:19):
You walk past like the.
They're like train tracks,aren't they where they?
They're not trains in them, butthey have these big like skip
type things, yeah, and theycarry them through.
So you might bump into someminers.
You can speak, if you speak,quechuan, which is quite rare,
but that's pretty good, but ifnot, I think Spanish will do and
you go and see their sort oflike their the angel of the of
(09:39):
the mine.
He's got like a huge penis.
So the the thing is, this isthe guy sitting in the corner.
Obviously it's like a sculpture, this huge penis, and there's
like a load of cocoa leaves onthe floor and uh, some money,
and apparently it's good luck ifyou bless it and all that sort
of stuff.
So it's a combination of uh,yeah, you can throw money and I
don't know what happens to themoney, but I'm sure the miners
(10:01):
pick it up.
But yeah, it's just like.
It's a strange experience, it'sa work in mind.
So you hear some explosions inthe distance and you hear, uh,
just people working, likechatting and working, and the
classic, like that sound of theis it the pitchfork or pitch
knife, whatever is that you'rebashing in the mind, those sort
of sounds.
It's a strange, weirdexperience and when you get out
(10:22):
of it you need to be careful,because you come out to daylight
and you've been in pitch darkfor an hour so that that
brightness hits you right.
You're like, oh, you can'treally see that well, so, all in
all, if you're potosi, it'sworth.
Uh, it's worth an experience.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah for sure isn't uh lake titicaca, which is
between la paz and it's kind ofon the border of peru?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
yeah, yeah, it did, but I I went.
I went on the floating boatswhich goes to the floating
islands, but I was really ill.
I must have eaten something theday before and I don't know why
.
I said yes, but I felt I had todo it.
No, I basically had the shits,so like I was just really
feeling really ill.
But if you, if you're not ill,it's a great tour.
You see the floating islandsand the people who live there.
(11:05):
You go and do some hike.
There's another island you cando like a hike and a viewpoint,
and obviously you can cross theborder, so, and there's all
sorts of options there.
But I don't think I reallyenjoyed it because I was so ill.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I was sick as well yeah, you know, I actually read
a book that talks quite a lotabout Lake Titicaca, and that
one is it a reed?
Plant.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Oh, yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's one plant.
Basically the entire island andthe people, all the inhabitants
of the lake, survive on thatplant.
Those boats are made out of it,the houses are made out of it,
I think they make food out of it.
Plan, like those books are madeout of it, the houses are made
out of it.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I think they make food out of it, um if I'm not
mistaken, and basically,everything that they do centers
around that point and you can goon that island and speak to the
locals with the guide, right?
So that's part of the tourwhich I did manage to get up and
do.
Um, that's the only thing Iremember, really, but yeah, that
that was an interestingexperience.
You know, you are just floatingon these reeds like they're
(12:05):
just it's a strange.
Another strange experience.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, so the islands themselves, the way I understand
it, that the float, they'refloating islands and they build
houses on the floating islandsand they live in them so
essentially, these people arefloating around, like when
they're sleeping at night.
They're floating yeah, yeah,exactly yeah so they start out
on this side of the lake and endup on the other side of the
lake, or it's not?
I don't.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I don't think it's that dramatic, but that's a
great question.
I don't know like can they justdrift to the mainland I?
I have no idea because you'reprobably about.
You're about 20 minutes boatride away from the mainland,
right or half an hour so.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So maybe it's just that they float and aren't
really connected to anything,but they don't go anywhere.
I don't know.
I'm going to check that myself.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
What if it's connected to the reeds
underneath the water?
Are they that secure in thelake that it's good enough for
them to stay?
Still, I have no idea.
That's a good question.
Again, if I listen, probably onthe tour I could tell you the
answer, but I was soconcentrated on not being sick I
was like, oh, I just need toget through it.
What was?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
the food, like I was going to ask you about that.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I know a lot of people get sick there, you know.
Yeah, I wouldn't rate it thatmuch.
I think the soups are good.
They're known for their soups,so it's not just like watery
soup, they put like lots ofvegetables in in there.
I kind of avoided meat becauseI got sick from eating chicken
so I just went a bit vegetarianthere because I couldn't risk
getting ill again.
But from what I remember, thesoups are good and that is
(13:31):
pretty much about it.
La Paz I really struggled withfood there.
Actually I went to Weston alittle bit because I couldn't
really grasp what their food was.
Maybe I need to go back andrevisit, but I couldn't tell you
the food, anything apart fromsoups and revisit, but I
couldn't tell you the foodanything apart from soups.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, sometimes I mean I've heard a lot of
negative about the food inBolivia from a lot of different
people and a lot of differentthings that I've read pretty
much everyone.
It's kind of like India, Ithink, in that way, where people
say just prepare to get sickyeah so but I've always wanted
to go I was so close.
You know when you're in Cuscoand Peru.
I don't know if you've beenthere.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah Lovely, yeah, yeah Awesome, right, yeah,
unbelievable.
I almost went um.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I almost went over to Bolivia from there, had some
extra days and it's only like asix or eight hour car ride, and
I just kind of got screwed upand I didn't end up going, and
since then I just haven't been.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I don't know, I've just had other priorities Was.
Peru, one of your favoritecountries.
Well, the Inca Trail isincredible, you can't deny that.
And Machu Picchu, I know it's abit cliche but it is
unbelievable, you get to see it.
And Peru, yeah, cusco is, like,weirdly, one of my favorite
places I went to in SouthAmerica, even though it's a bit
(14:46):
touristy and it is a hub.
Uh, I actually love the feel ofit, the cobbled streets.
I think you get lost there alittle bit and it's not too
touristy.
I think, yeah, I think you'refine.
Um, but like Lima, I didn'tlike at all.
Really what?
Lima is a bit dull, a bit gray,yeah, so I had a bit gray, yeah
, so I had a bit of a mixed uhvibe, but the cusco and the inca
trail combined was incredible.
(15:08):
Yeah, that is not not myfavorite country as a whole, but
those individual placesdefinitely for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, see I could.
I couldn't get on the inca.
When I went down there they hadjust changed the rules, um, and
they were only allowing like 2000 people per day or something
on the inca trail or I can'tremember exactly what the rule
was, but it was pretty strict atthat point and I think it maybe
still is, because all thesehikers are deteriorating the
land, so they're only allowingso many per day and I think the
(15:38):
wait right now or at least whenI went to pass that check, I
think was maybe a year or twoyears.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
So you put your name on a list and you're waiting two
years.
Really, I think ours was sixmonths in advance.
Yeah, ours was six months, sowe put that in there, I heard.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
now it's one to two years or something like that.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So my trip was kind of last minute.
Right, we went like kind oflast minute and we couldn't get
on it obviously, so we did thesalt on tag trail, which oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
It was awesome yeah, a lot of people do that trail
right, yeah yeah, it was great.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
It was five, uh, five days, four nights um and camped
out in these like awesome Imean, it was totally glamping
man it was it was.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
It was like a rich man glamping yeah where they
pitch it.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
They do everything for you, right?
They show up with these horsesand they take your duffel bag.
You can have a duffel bag withlike 20 kilos or 20 pounds I
can't remember which it was ofitems in it and they literally
show up with all these horses,these Indian guys who lived in
the wilderness.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And they come pick up your um, your stuff, and they
head off right and you hike forthree or four hours.
They're on horses, so they beatyou by several hours to the
next yeah and once you get there, they already have this
incredible lunch made for you.
I mean, it's like high classlunch, right, and you hang out
there for a little bit, eat anincredible meal and chill and
talk to everyone, and then, boom, boom.
(17:04):
The afternoon you do the sameexact thing.
They take off in front of you.
They have dinner ready when youget there and then at night
they'll have drinks ready foryou.
You know, liquor, whatever youwant to drink or eat at night is
there.
And then they have these likemakeshift, man-made, freezing,
cold, freaking showers.
Because you're, I don 15,800feet, so that would be a little
(17:34):
less than half of that.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, it's like 4,500 meters, maybe 5?
.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, that's about right.
I think some of the time it'sactually 5.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I think it's a little bit taller than the Inca Trail.
Yeah, I just thought on theInca Trail when you have a hard
day's hike and you see thosetents there and the big tent to
set up with all the food thereis nothing better and nothing
more.
Needed these these tents thatwe did they would have these.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I mean they're incredible.
Tents right.
And then, yeah, they're,they're covered with the straw
tent like yeah, incredible.
I mean you could well.
I mean you got cold because itwas below zero, but you didn't
get as cold as you think youwould, because they added and
the food is incredible, right asyou said there, and even our
food.
I think we just booked a normallocal tour operator, but the
food is incredible, likeunbelievable yeah, I never had
(18:24):
one, one single piece of food inin peru that I would complain
about, but even one that Iwouldn't tell you was some of
this food yeah, so yeah.
And you know we had people whenwe did our hike.
Everyone was chewing on cocaleaves the entire time, because
that's what you do to thin yourblood out so you can get to
those altitudes yeah.
(18:46):
You can get those altitudes.
And then we had four or fivepeople within our group who had
either higher horseback oroxygen.
They had oxygen, oh wow, really.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Oh wow, had four or five people within our group who
had either higher horseback oroxygen.
They had oxygen.
Oh wow, really oh wow.
So a couple people were onoxygen, riding horses, you do
see, like these horses and orponies that have come down, and
our guide was saying that theseare the guys that just given up
because they've obviously gottoo ill or they just can't do it
, like physically that's tootired.
Um, you kind of got animpression that you don't want
to be one of those peoplebecause it's such a an extra
(19:22):
admin for them, the cost.
They have two guys, probablyone guide has to go back and you
just need to make sure you candeal.
I know it's a bit randomsometimes, but the altitude is
key and you're fairly fit andyou can get the hike done.
I'm not the fittest guy but Idid manage to get through it.
But it is tough uphill battles,most of the first two days I
think.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I was pretty worried about it because we've done some
research on it.
When you get on Google, ittells you all what you just said
you need to prepare.
You can't just show up downthere a big, fat slob with no
exercise for the last two yearsand expect to make it.
So I think I lost like 15pounds or something in the
couple of months before I went.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
All right, wow, yeah, yeah, okay.
Good on you.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
But then luckily I got down there and you know it
ended up working out.
So I guess my training workedout for me and I chewed on a
heck of a lot of cocoa leaves.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I was at the World Cup in Brazil about for two,
three weeks before.
Right, I had a few weekstravelling after that before,
but I had no training.
So the only thing I hadtraining in was a bit of
altitude, because I went toNorthern Chile and Northern
Argentina so I had a little bitof altitude training, if you
like, in brackets.
But yeah, I had no training interms of physical doing stuff.
(20:41):
I was just in Rio partying upfor the World Cup, so I got away
with it.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I'm in Rio now.
I'm here.
That's where I am right now.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, great city unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
It's incredible, all of Brazil actually.
It's incredible and I would sayRio is probably the hardest
place in Brazil to meet people.
They're a little bit morestandoffish just because.
I don't know why but I thinktouristy cities like this
sometimes can be standoffish,because you're just there for
three days and you're gone, orleave and you're gone, so they
don't care about meeting Onceyou're here for a while.
(21:11):
Notice at this time.
Once you're here for a while,they really warm up to you.
They start passing places overand over.
But yeah, I love Rio.
Is there a more beautiful citythan Rio?
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, those cities on the water.
Vancouver is similar and Sydney.
I can think of one as wellwhere it just has that natural
harbour and they've got thebeaches.
Vancouver has no beaches, butSydney obviously does.
Those cities on the water, youcan't beat them.
I don't think there's justsomething about it where you've
got the mix of a happening citywith great beaches and a great
lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Hong Kong was another one that I did.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Ah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I flew in Hong Kong man.
There's so much energy in thatcity that I couldn't sleep.
I was there three weeks.
I could barely sleep.
I could not stop seeing stuff.
I've been three times now, butyeah what an?
Incredible place.
I would say Hong Kong and Rioat this point in my travel
(22:11):
career are my most definitelythe two most beautiful cities.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yes, it's an interesting one.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Your other two big ones.
Yeah, these do change regularly, so I'll have you on in the
next six months.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, let's go a recent one.
I did have a really good timein Oman, I must admit, in Middle
East.
Oman, yeah.
So Oman is on the coast next toYemen and Saudi Arabia and UAE
(22:48):
I think they border those threebut totally safe for the desert,
but also for the pristinebeaches and islands, and super
safe with great roads.
So if you're looking to do aroad trip and speak to some
locals, uh, amani people,they're really cool and they can
also speak english and theywouldn't help you out.
Hospitality is incredible.
So we had a 10-day road tripthere in muscat.
(23:11):
We started in muscat and thenheaded down through ras al
jinn's to wahiba sands and thendown to masira island, uh, back
up through bala and uh, jabreenand, yeah, just had the, and
nizwa as well, which is like a,an old capital.
Just had the most incredibletime.
Lots of different things to see.
(23:31):
Uh, cheap petrol you're gonnaget I don't know you do gallons,
right, so what's that about?
Four liters?
You're probably gonna pay, Idon't know a dollar for a gallon
, something like that.
Super cheap.
So road tripping is cheap andthe food's incredible, the
people are incredible and thescenery is out of this world.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
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(24:55):
Oman wow you, you threw me offwith that one.
I don't know.
I don't know if I've ever evenspent any time reading about it
until this is my first educationon oman oman.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Okay, yeah, they did.
They have um a lot of likeinternational flights into
muscat, so it's quite, quitegood.
Oman air is one of the bestairlines in the world so you can
get some good flights there andthey have cheap flights out to.
You can go to like.
We flew to Nepal so we went toKathmandu from there, or you can
go from Europe.
It's pretty cheap and they evenfly down south to like Tanzania
(25:26):
, to Africa, so it's a nice hubto be based in.
What's the food like Food isabsolutely incredible.
It's that sort of spicychickpea lentils and a lot of
bread, like the sort of mixbetween pita and naan bread, I
suppose, isn't it?
Lots of vegetables and meat.
These like spicy.
They've got a lot of Indian andPakistani influence as well, so
(25:48):
they have a lot of those likeIndian type tasting curries as
well.
So we had a plethora of foodand, yeah, just incredible.
The food's incredible and thecoffee is great as well.
The coffee was the biggestthing for me last year.
That was the best country forcoffee they've got they've got
it going I didn't go to brazillast year, so I'll I'll caveat
that, but, like for last year'strip, um, I think omaha was up
(26:11):
there in the top two for bestcoffee you know what's
interesting?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
I've spent a lot of time in Colombia, a lot of time.
In fact I lived there forseveral years and as good as you
know, they just have areputation around the world.
It's like the best coffee.
Yeah, yeah, and I think that'sright.
Right, I think that they haveincredible coffee because you
can grow anything in Colombia,the soil is just so fertile.
(26:37):
But I'll say that inside thecountry, I was not impressed at
all.
There were a couple of placeslike when you go down to the
coffee region, which is likeParia de Manizales, all that.
Those people know coffee.
They're giving you their gradeA coffee.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah, yeah, I drank some really know coffee.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
They're giving you their grade A coffee.
I drink some really good coffee, but what I learned is Colombia
actually exports all theirgrade A beans to other countries
and they leave the B, c, dquality beans in their country
for their own people.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Even the locals were like if you don't go to a coffee
farm where people still havesome grade A beans that they
haven't decided to export yet,you're not going to get good
coffee here.
Wow, there you go.
That's incredible.
Yeah, yeah, I imagine no oneprobably gets the Colombian
beans right.
So there you go.
That's probably why it tastesso good, yeah maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I mean, you know, I think that's probably accurate
and you know I've had brazilianbeans in a lot of other
countries as well, which isinteresting.
You know you get to anothercoffee country like brazil I'm
sorry, colombia.
In colombia I had tons ofbrazilian beans and so it
doesn't make much sense.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
It's a shame that they have to export the best
stuff.
I do find that a real big shame.
That's just business, I suppose.
Right.
But it's a shame that localsdon't get to taste their own
great coffee.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That is a bit of a shame, and something that was
interesting about Colombia isthey you know, if you order
coffee, it's just coffee.
You're not going to get like aStarbucks type latte, I mean you
can get lattes and all that.
That's not what they're good at, right.
They're good at the process ofmaking a regular brew.
Yeah, when you task them withthrowing in a bunch of sugar and
(28:30):
extra flavors and stuff likethat, it's just not.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I just don't think they want to do that right.
Yeah yeah, sugar and extraflavors and stuff like that.
It's just not.
I just don't think they want todo that Right, I think.
Yeah yeah, that's fair enough.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Maybe a professional coffee farmer.
They feel like it might screwup.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So you know, I um, I saw on your website you had
mentioned, and I think you'regoing to agree, I think we
definitely.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Oh yeah, I think travel is never a bad idea,
because of two reasons really,and I can't see any way out of
it If you're interested intravel but you're a bit scared,
or you're financially not sure,whatever.
If you go and do a travel tripcould be a month or two weeks,
whatever.
It is somewhere new, a bit offthe beaten track for yourself.
(29:16):
What are the two things thatare going to happen?
Well, number one you're goingto hate it, that's fine.
You go back home, but at leastyou learn something about
yourself.
So that's good for future lifestuff.
Right, you probably learnedthat maybe you don't like that
culture or you don't like thatcountry, or the way you traveled
wasn't good.
You learn something aboutyourself that's going to be
invaluable going forward.
(29:37):
So that's good for the soul,because I think you learn
something about yourself.
Number two you're gonna love itand it's gonna be like me,
where you can't stop and andyourself.
So you go to one country youlove that.
You think, oh, where can I gonext?
And this starts this journeythroughout your life where
you're constantly thinking aboutwhat is possible for my next
adventure.
I think that's a great thingtoo.
So I don't actually rank bothof them higher than one than the
(29:58):
other.
It's just about what yoursituation is and how it goes for
you, right?
So it's a win-win.
I I can't see any other um wayother than that I don't think I
think it becomes a drug.
I mean, you just said it in adifferent way.
It becomes a drug um for manyreasons I it's constant learning
, nonsense, 24 hours a day whenyou're in another country.
(30:20):
It's not something, yeah, andyou know I've 24 hours a day
when you're in another country.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
It's nonstop learning .
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah, and you know, I've always said.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I think that you learn more about your own
country when you're travelingthan the country you're actually
traveling in.
True, which is incredible.
Yeah, I think it's one of thosethings that I don't know, man.
Once you get the bug, it's justI don't know how to stop it.
I've never been able to, um,yeah, tell me about it.
But I would say, like, goingback to what you just said, like
if you go for a week or two, Idon't even know that guys like
you and I could even sitconsider that travel anymore.
(30:47):
That's just a quick, quickgetaway, right because, yeah,
it's a.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
It's a conversation, isn't it?
About the traveler versus theexplorer, if you like, or the
tourist versus the explorer.
Yeah, it's a very interestingchat yeah, I think if you stay
less than two weeks, um yeah,we'll put you in that tourist
category and there's so muchlearning that comes after the
two weeks, right when you, whenyou actually have to go do
(31:12):
something like laundry in aplace where you don't speak the
language yeah, yeah, yeah yeahthose basic things that become
you know, I think takes it fromtourism to exploration yeah, I
think I don't know what thecutoff point is, whether it's
two, three weeks, but some ofthe other options I could have
(31:34):
given you for like the countries, um, like, if my third country
would be a combination one ofthe three of thailand, vietnam
or new zealand, and all of whichI've spent at least two months
in, so definitely thailand andvietnam, and I lived in new
zealand for a year.
So, like, I think when you dothat sort of portion of time in
those countries, you do get toknow the nuances about what you
(31:57):
like and don't like about thecountries.
I think that is key as well,because you say if you dip in
for two weeks, you're not goingto learn too much, especially if
it's a fast-paced trip andyou're dotting around quite
quickly.
But then, saying that if you goto Europe and you do the
micronations, like Andorra, sanMarino and Liechtenstein like we
did last year and Monaco, Imean they're about as big as our
(32:23):
houses, right, so thatliterally a day and you've done
everything in it in terms oflike walking around.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
So I guess it depends on the size of the country as
well you know, for me, beingAmerican, it's um, for most
Americans, um, you know, it'sit's.
I think that many people aroundthe world laugh at us because
we'll go to Europe for 10 daysand be like I'm gonna backpack
(32:47):
Europe.
How many countries can you see?
I'm gonna see nine countries in10 days.
You're just gonna go like putyour foot in and run to the next
train yeah, yeah.
How do you do that right?
I mean, I was there for 10 days, probably 20 years ago, and I
saw Munich, germany, and then wetook a nine-hour train ride to
(33:11):
the Czech Republic.
Prague yeah, it's one of myfavorite cities, but it was all
we could do to get those twocities in, really actually yeah,
yeah, of course.
Because if you're in and out,you just, you just don't have
time to really mesh with thelocals.
You're not going to learn muchabout the food In a week or two.
Yeah, I guess you're an eightyear old.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
That's just a lot of stuff you miss, so I don't know.
You did a backpack trip through.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Southeast Asia, didn so I don't know.
You did a backpack trip throughSoutheast Asia, didn't you?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, I've done a few .
I've done, I think, two, maybethree.
The first one was 2013.
That was three months inSoutheast Asia, and the second
one was probably 2017, for six,seven weeks, maybe two months, I
can't quite remember.
But yeah, I actually repeat thesame trip, but one was a
younger myself, I was 23 orsomething and the second time
(34:03):
was with my girlfriend now.
So it's two different types oftrips, but most of the same
places.
But what's interesting, you seethe place that you've seen
before, but in a different angle.
So the first trip was a lot ofpartying, right.
So Southeast Asia is great.
If you want to guarantee to meetother backpackers similar age
on the same sort of route aroundthe region, that's a good place
(34:25):
to start.
Start in Bangkok, work your wayeast, go up around Vietnam,
then work your way west throughLaos and northern Thailand and
back down.
It's quite a popular route andthat is incredible the amount of
stuff you can see and do andall the tourist visas are like
three or four months, so you'vegot no rush and it's cheap.
So if you're looking for abudget backpack area, southeast
(34:46):
asia is still, in my opinion, upthere with one of the cheapest,
even though it's been aroundfor 20 years, like thailand's
always been for a long time been.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, popular vietnam's really coming up.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I understand yeah, I went to vietnam, I said in 2013,
and I was a bit shocked becauseI was a bit what's the word?
A bit green in those days.
I was like oh wow, this isquite a modern country even in
those times.
And then I went back in 2017and I think vietnam is the next
place where maybe, like digitalnomads are going to go, because
I think it's up and coming, it'sgot great internet, the locals
are super nice, half apopulation under 30.
(35:18):
I just think it's up and coming.
It's got great internet, thelocals are super nice, half the
population are under 30.
I just think it's got thatyouthful vibe of it's going
somewhere right and it's allsuper safe and lots of see and
do.
There's little pockets whereit's really touristy, like Nha
Trang, ha Long Bay.
They're going to get theChinese and the Russian tourists
, but other than that, I thinkas a country as a whole, there's
(35:39):
so much to see and do and I wastalking to my friend here.
She's vietnamese and she wassaying you've got the classic
cities and towns that we all goto.
There's westerns and I can youcan reel them off on a
backpacking trip.
Then there's the alternateplaces that the locals go to
that the backpackers don't go to.
So I'm like, ah oh, next time Iwant to do that trip.
I want to get a list of theseplaces that are next to the
(36:00):
tourist places and go to thelocal vietnamese places and see
what it's like.
Is any different is?
Can anyone speak english, likeall that sort of stuff?
Right?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
so you know what's helped me with that and, totally
by accident, um is airbnb, um.
So you know I've been in somesituations where you know I was
trying to get an airbnb asactually now.
There was just a huge event inRio, the place I had rented my
time was up there.
(36:28):
I tried to extend, but someoneelse had already extended it, so
I was forced to move.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
When I started looking at other.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Airbnbs.
There was nothing in any of thetourist places like Copacabana,
ipanema.
It was all taken up by allthese people coming in for this
huge music event.
So I found this wonderful house, incredible house, about 30
minutes outside of Rio and butit's on the train line right the
Metro.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Within, you know, within 20 minutes I can be back
here for all the stuff that I'malready doing the gym food,
whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
So I'm doing the gym food, whatever it is, yeah, um,
so I'm gonna get this out, man.
I came out here and it's beenthe most incredible airbnb
experience definitely top two orthree that I've ever had in my
life.
Oh wow the lady that owns theplace is that she's.
She lives in the apartment nextdoor and so, like every morning
, she asked me if she could dothis.
Every single morning she'llcome in to the kitchen and she
makes a big, huge thermos ofcoffee.
She leaves three or four thingsthere that you can eat for
(37:22):
breakfast in the morning.
You know, like breads, Itypically don't eat it, but
anyway.
And then every single night,every night since I've been here
I've been here for about sevendays now I think I have two more
days here Every single night Icome in and she'll text me and
be like, text me and be like,hey, did you get back from the
gym?
I'm like, yeah, I got back.
And she brings over some formof dinner.
It'll be kind of hearty soupwith fresh grape juice like real
(37:45):
grapes that she's boiled andmade into a fresh grape juice.
Sometimes it's this thingcalled tapioca which they stuff
in Brazil.
It's like a quesadilla and theystuff it with just whatever and
she'll bring me.
One night It'll have chickenlike seasoned chicken.
The next night it'll have eggsand cheese.
Every single night.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Airbnb forces you sometimes to be out in areas
that you typically wouldn'tchoose, and in Sao Paulo it was
the same.
I probably know seven or eightdifferent neighborhoods in Sao
Paulo, because I'll just get acouple of weeks in the
neighborhood and then, get acouple of weeks somewhere else,
and somewhere else, andsomewhere else.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
And the next thing you know, you know half the city
, you know more than the localsright.
That's the great thing aboutAirbnb if it's done properly,
because it's a big problem inVancouver where people just buy
houses just to rent out becauseit's a moneymaker maker.
But if Airbnb was like the olddays, where the local owns it
and you stay with, like you know, next door to the person who
owns it, like you do, that's theproper experience that you want
(38:46):
, because that is what it'sdesigned to do.
Meet a local I mean, whatyou're describing is
unbelievable where they'regiving you food that's like
extras, but you just want a bitof guidance, like around the
local area.
That is what you want and Ithink if you can get that
experience in most places, Ithink you're a winner because
you get a bit more of a localexperience well, I never liked,
(39:06):
I've never been used to livingor staying with anybody.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
I still like that, right, I'm like a little bit
past that.
I'm just way past that actuallyin age I guess.
American ideology, sure um, butI've had some us American
ideology, sure Um.
But I've had some situationstraveling by Mexico city.
Anyway the eight.
95% of my Airbnb stays havealways been me just renting my
(39:32):
own apartment.
Okay, and, but then there'sbeen these extraneous
circumstances where I was kindof forced to get a room, like in
Mexico city.
I was forced to get a room therein the good part of town for
one or two nights, I can'tremember, and then immediately
you go in there's three or fourdifferent people in the house,
and almost always they've beenthere at least a week or several
(39:53):
days before you.
So you learn so much about thecity.
You get all kinds of littletips from them.
So once I realized that, thento your, your point.
I sometimes will look for thatright when I go.
Yeah, really nice house for atleast three or four days, learn
some stuff, and then go out andget my own place.
Yeah, yeah it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
In it you can get experience.
Yeah, I try and find that allstaying hostels or local hotels.
That's kind of all guest housesif you're in Asia, but um, yeah
, that's I try and find that allstaying in hostels or local
hotels or guest houses.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
If you're in Asia.
That's what I try to do.
I need to get some Asia in.
I haven't done a lot of Asia,only first world Asia.
I've never done a lot of Asia.
I'm going to hit Vietnam nextyear.
With all this experience, doyou have any hacks or trips?
We're going to hit Vietnam nextyear, so do you have any?
With all this experience, doyou have any hacks or trips I'm
sorry hacks or tips or anythinglike that that you would share
(40:49):
with people?
Speaker 2 (40:51):
In terms of how to travel.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I don't know Packing tips.
It could be.
It could be how to find thebest deals on stays.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
I sort of do wing it a little bit.
So, uh, what I mean by that isI've got my trip coming up
november in el salvador and thenguatemala and mexico.
I won't book anything apartfrom the first two nights and
then I'll just see what is nextplace to go, probably based on a
local recommendation orresearch while I'm there.
And the reason I do that isbecause you can always book in
(41:25):
advance on bookingcom orHostelworld, and I might do that
one or two times.
But you do want to leave a bitof space for someone to
recommend somewhere to go.
That's local.
So I've got two interviewslined up in San Salvador with
two locals for the podcast I'mdoing.
Well, I'm going to ask them,right, well, where should I go
next?
Where's even best to stay here?
So I want to leave that open,right, so I do, probably will go
(41:48):
on Hostelworld that's probablymy go-to for hostels and
Bookingcom for accommodationsand Airbnb, as you said.
And for packing, I don't pack asuitcase or go check luggage,
so I go with carry-on only.
So, probably about 10 kilos,and I pack that bag with as much
as I need, as much when you'rethere, right, yep, yep, as much
(42:09):
as I go, admin as I go.
Last year we had for the year10 to 12 kilos and then an extra
day pack.
That was the whole year's worthof stuff, which was interesting
.
I'm also a big renter of cars.
I do like renting cars out anddriving and then it takes a bit
of balls to do that becauseyou're in a different country or
even mopeds or scooters.
I don't mind doing that either,but I like seeing, either
(42:32):
walking a place quite a lot, orgoing on the local roads and
trying to check out the, thetowns and cities around that.
So Vietnam's a great place toget a bike out.
I know it's a bit crazy, but ifyou can get past the first day
culture shock, then it's a goodplace to see on a bike.
Thailand the same as well, evenMyanmar.
We biked around in Bagan onelectric scooters.
(42:53):
They're quite fun.
So, yeah, I love publictransport.
I love trains, probably busesand trains.
Yeah, I go local.
So, yeah, transport a lot oftrains, probably buses and
trains.
I, yeah, I go local.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
So, yeah, just kind of keep it as local and as
probably as cheap as possibleand authentic as possible if you
can yeah, you know, I've had somany business people that I've
met over the years that you knowthey'll say world travel is so
expensive.
And when you talk to them abouthow they're traveling you, find
out why they think it's soexpensive and, to be fair, it
takes years for anyone to travelalone and start figuring out
(43:28):
how to make it.
You know, afford right Becausein the beginning even us
seasoned travelers when you goto a new place, you're going to
spend more in those first twoweeks to a month than you are in
the second, third month You'regoing to start figuring it out,
right, yeah, but you starttalking to a lot of business
(43:48):
people like man.
I've got to have $100 million tobe able to travel the world
like my wife used to do andyou're like, oh, where are you
guys?
Going to stay and they're likeoh, we're going to stay at the W
Hotel.
You could rent a full houseright on Airbnb for a fourth of
what you're going to pay for ahotel, right.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
You're going to live a better life living in a house
or an apartment than you wouldin a hotel.
You could cook if you want to.
I mean, it's just so much morecomfortable the longer you stay,
you know, to get a house and anapartment than it is to stay in
a hotel.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
All depends how comfortable you are, right.
So an example would be what Iwould do if I'm in Vietnam and
I'm taking a bus up or train andit's overnight.
Well, are you willing to notpay for an overnight
accommodation because you got atrain?
So can you sleep on trains?
Are you comfortable with that?
That saves an accommodation,these sort of things.
We're on a road trip last yearacross Canada.
We would do probably Max threenights in a row on a truck stop
(44:50):
because it, because you justturn up and park and sleep.
Right, you have your own food.
You cook a little food in thecamper van, that's fine.
It all depends if you can dothat.
If you can't do that, I assumebusiness people are probably
used to a certain standard whenthey travel, which is fair
enough.
Nothing against that.
But if they are used to that,they can't complain the expense
of that because that isexpensive the way they do it.
There's no two ways about it.
(45:12):
But yeah, it all depends howeasily you can rough it a little
bit in certain countries, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Well, I think it's about changing the mindset, and
I think even even businesspeople, business person myself I
think it's just changing themindset from thinking that you
have to stay in a 10-star hotelBecause you don't.
You're going to be much happierin a really nice house than you
are in a hotel, no matter whereyou are.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
No matter who you are or what your socioeconomic
status is, you're going to behappier in an apartment or a
house.
Yeah, you can do it for a hellof a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
So next on your travel list is Guatemalaatemala,
mexico and what'd you say?
Speaker 1 (45:58):
el salvador?
That's where I'm starting.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Yeah yeah, I'm looking forward to.
I've seen a lot of stuff thisyear, so looking forward to
getting stuck in probably at 10days there, I think so you're
gonna do some live podcastingdown there yeah.
So I've got two interviews linedup for san salv, salvador,
where I start, so that's cooland they're locals.
I may have a third, just inconversations, and then I'll
start to probably organizeGuatemala for that as well.
(46:22):
So, probably Antigua I mightsee if there's someone there who
wants to come on, who's local.
And then definitely in Oaxaca,new Mexico, I'm going to go
there and get some people tocome on and then, yeah, I might,
I might nip to Belize as well,because I want to do the flight
over the blue hole.
I probably do have one rule,one extravagant experience that
(46:42):
could be paragliding or or askydive done before you know
stuff like that.
So my one for this trip isgoing to be, hopefully, a scenic
flight over the Blue Hole inBelize.
So that's on my list.
But, yeah, it'll just be amonth over land, crossing
borders, public transport noreal plan.
I have a few things in my mind,but nothing to nail down.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
So let's see what happens.
You have a few things scratchedout on paper, but no details in
the middle.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Yeah, yeah, Best way to be.
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
You and I are similar .
Any city that has a metro and areally good subway system.
Like Rio Sao Paulo, they bothhave incredible metro.
Yeah, absolutely no reason tohave a car.
It's faster to take the metro.
It's cleaner to take the metro.
Yeah, obviously it helps a lottoo.
How do people get?
(47:32):
Uh, how many, how many episodesare you doing?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
you're doing an episode every week, right?
Yeah, I won't do.
It's a mix.
Actually, I'm gonna do theguests, whatever.
How many of that is could bethree or four, um two now.
So I'll do maybe one inguatemala, one in mexico, maybe
more, we'll see and then I'mgoing to do uh eight sort of
episodes.
They're like immersive audioepisodes, um sort of trialing at
the minute, where collectsounds and uh talk live on the
(47:56):
ground but also provides theoverview whilst doing the
episode.
So there's gonna be eight ofthose for the trip.
So two a week, uh, detailingall the different parts I'm in.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
So yeah, that's but you're still, you're podcasting
even when you're not traveling.
Right, you're still released,yeah, yeah podcasting.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Even when you're not traveling, right, you're still
releasing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I probably won't do those soloepisodes whilst I'm traveling
until maybe Mexico, because Ineed, as you know, you need to
be somewhere stable andsomewhere you can have like good
internet for a start, but alsosomewhere quiet you can do your
voiceovers.
So I don't think I'll get thatuntil Mexico.
So that'll be the last week ofmy trip.
But the interviews, I might beable to get them out in quick
(48:32):
time, so we'll see.
Yeah, but it'll be a good endto the year.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
There'll be a lot of Central America stuff for the
last 6-7 weeks of the year, Ithink well, if there's anything
on those trips that I might beable to help out with, let me
know.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I know quite a bit about Latin America.
I don't know much aboutGuatemala.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
I know a little bit about Salvador just reading.
I used to have a really bigfurniture customer in Salvador
actually who had 800 stores.
They had a warehouse inSalvador.
They had 800 stores all overSouth America.
I learned quite a bit aboutSalvador.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
How do people reach out to you and tell me what's
the name of the over SouthAmerica?
So I learned quite a bit aboutthe South Nice Doing business
with those guys.
But how do people reach out toyou and tell me what's the name
of the podcast so they can?
Where are you publicizing that?
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Yeah, so it's Winging it Travel Podcast.
That's posted all over Appleand YouTube and Spotify the same
name for website, sowingingittravelpodcastcom On.
There's all the links if youwant to go on there.
And I'm mostly on Instagram ismy main hub.
I do YouTube shorts as well onmy youtube channel and also I'm
(49:39):
on tick-tock not great on therebut got get the Gen Z's involved
and I do share it to Facebook,but not really on Facebook.
You can find wing at childpodcast on there too, but mainly
Instagram.
And if you want to send me anemail, you can submit a form
through that website or you cansend one to jameshammondtravel
at gmailcom and that is prettymuch it, yeah awesome man.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Well, hey, I appreciate you coming on.
I think we, uh we got a lot ofgood information out for people
and I'll be keeping up with youand I'm sure we'll be in touch
in the near future.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, it's been great fun.
Cheers, matt, for having me on,really appreciate it and I hope
the listeners get something outof it, and if they've got any
questions they can just reachout to me.
I'm pretty open to that.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Thanks, man.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
Appreciate it, Cheers dude.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of
Matt Chambers Connects.
Stay tuned for upcomingepisodes where we'll dive deeper
into these two fascinatingworlds.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please subscribe to our YouTube
channel, matt Chambers Connects.
You can also find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts, youtube Music
and many other major podcastplatforms, so you don't miss a
(50:45):
show.
Also, please join us on oursocial media channels so you can
connect with other listenersand ask your most pressing
questions and also tell us whattypes of guests you'd like to
see on the show.
Thanks again, and I'll see younext time.
Hello and welcome to Matt Chambers Connects, a
podcast hosted by Matt Chambers.
This is the podcast thattranscends boundaries, empowers
cross-cultural connections andfosters a more connected world.
I'm your host, matt Chambers,and I invite you to join us on
this quest to expand ourunderstanding and build bridges
(00:20):
between my two favorite placeson the planet Latin America and
the United States.
I've been traveling, living anddoing business in Latin America
for nearly two decades.
You know you've been doing sometraveling man, which is why I
(00:48):
wanted to bring you on the showand I saw your profile and
you've been to like 70 countriesand I'm like man, I have to
have this guy.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I thought I'd done a lot right.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I've maybe done 30, like somewhere between 25 and 30
, I believe.
Which you know, compared to aregular Joe, it's quite a lot of
traffic and within those 25 to30 countries I've seen a ton of
cities in between.
But when I saw your profile andit said 70 countries, you know,
that's an excellent level.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, it's been a journey almost a decade right,
so it's not been like quicksuccession.
But yeah, I had a year triplast year, so that kind of added
to the account quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So yeah, is that kind of what you're doing?
Do you do um?
You know everyone has theirdifferent style of how they make
it happen.
Or you um I know you'remonetizing the podcast and then,
um, you're you just gettingremote work, or do you just go
back and work for a couple yearsand then hit the trail for a
year or what's?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
your strategy?
The strategy has been just worklocally two, three years, maybe
less, and then quit the job andgo.
But this year is a bitdifferent because we're trying
to get the passport for Canada.
So we have to be here probablyfor like 18 months.
So we're probably halfwaythrough that.
So we might as well get anormal job.
(02:06):
If you're staying here, youmight as well just work a normal
job and wait for that passportto come through.
So I don't think we'll be free,in a sense, until next summer
and then we'll decide what to do.
So you're in Canada now, yeah,at the minute.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
You're in Vancouver, right.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, I kind of want the two passports because I want
two options.
So I thought if I get thatticked off, that's good options
in the future.
And then, yeah, we'll see whathappens in in late next year.
But I think there's anothertrip coming, but only only if we
earn money on the road, not notquit jobs and have no income.
I think those days are over areyou looking?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
into any remote work at all, I mean, there's that'll
be the in the future.
Yeah, yeah, yeah um, so yeah,so you're trying to get your.
I mean, you're Australianoriginally, right?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
UK English.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Oh, you're UK, I get this mixed up man, as an
American, I get those accentsmixed up.
So you're from the UK andyou're trying to get a Canadian
passport as well, huh.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, because you might think oh, what's the point
?
Point, because they're kind ofsimilar.
But actually the britainleaving the eu makes it
difficult to stay in the eu fora longer period of time.
So the rule now, which for mostother countries is three months
at six, you can be in in the eu, but that's it.
You can't stay over 90 days outof 180.
(03:22):
But if you have a secondpassport you can just leave the
eu, go to uk for a weekend andthen come back on the other
passport, so you can be therefor six months and then the
whole year.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
You know, I don't know if you follow that guy.
There's a guy on youtube thattalks about having multiple
passports and uh well I mean,there's many people.
The guy nomad capitalist, he,he kind of has pretty boring.
His content is so boring it'slike accounting content.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
But hey, he has a lot of followers.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It's like 800,000 followers or something that he's
always talking about Buyingproperty.
He has a lot of property aroundthe world.
Very interesting the way thathe set up his business.
I don't want to take anythingaway from him at all, I just I
and I think what he does isperfect for the customer base
that he gives after.
He's always talking abouthaving you know, 10 different
passports and all this stuff.
(04:14):
So yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I mean, you know one that I want to get actually is
Paraguay in South America.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I don't know if you've done any research.
Oh no, south america.
I don't know if you've done anyresearch oh no, I haven't.
No, what's good about that?
You should look into it,because south america has the
americosor uh group, which is aconglomerate of, you know, 10 12
countries in south america thathave come together to.
You know they work together ona lot of trade and business
stuff.
So if you are a resident of anyone of those countries, you can
(04:43):
freely travel, do business, work, study whatever in any one of
those countries.
You can freely travel, dobusiness, work, study whatever
In any of the other countrieswith just your ID.
You don't have to have apassport or anything.
And Paraguay is, I think.
Personally, I think it's thebest one to have, because they
don't charge you any taxes forany money that you make outside
the country and any money thatyou make inside their country is
(05:06):
only 10%.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, and it only takes like two days to get the
residency.
Like fly down for a day or twoand apply for the residency and
my friend said, within like 48hours to maximum, like two weeks
max, you have the residency andthen, boom, you jet out and
there's no minimum stayrequirements where you don't
have to really ever come backthat's crazy, it's crazy and you
(05:32):
know my friend.
Uh, I was planning on goinglast year to check it out.
Uh, I've been wanting to go fora few years to check it out
actually but out of nowhere.
One of my buddies that I met incolumbia.
I called him a couple monthsago.
I was like where are you?
Are you?
He was like Paraguay.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I'm like why he's like I'm checking out this
residency down here.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We've been talking about that for the last couple
months.
I think he got it now.
He just went back about a monthago.
Definitely check that out,because it gives you access to
any of those Mercosur countrieswith just an ID.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
That countries with just an ID.
That's an unbelievable tip.
That is.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I'm about to do a podcast episode on it.
That's mental.
You get Colombia, brazil.
I think they mix Venezuela, butthere's a ton of South American
countries like Bolivia, chile,a bunch of them you can go to
and freely work, travel Out ofyour 70 countries.
Can you even pinpoint what youknow, your top two and three are
(06:30):
yeah, I get asked that a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Um, I probably do change it every day, but I do
put bolivia in there.
That's the, that's in the topthree.
Yeah, yeah, because I loved itthere.
Yeah, I have weeks there.
So I think, west to east, andthen the middle is a bit crazy.
It's completely different,right?
So the amount of stuff you seein Bolivia, from the salt flats
to the crazy mining towns likePotosi, la Paz, the crazy city,
(06:56):
to the very serene Sucre, thecapital, and then you go east to
Amazon, I think there's such awide range of things to see in
one country.
It's pretty crazy.
So I think bolivia is always upthere and it's one of the
cheapest places in south america.
So if people want to gosomewhere on the budget, that's
a pretty good place to go uh lapaz is pretty massive right,
(07:16):
aren't there about?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
yeah, huge million people there yeah, so it's like
a.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It's like a fishbowl right goes like in and crazy
hills everywhere and it's like afishbowl right.
It goes in and crazy hillseverywhere and it's like a bit
mental.
Taxi drivers are mental,there's hostels that are quite
partying hostels and yeah,there's so much going on.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I mean, do you see a lot?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
of foreign travelers down there.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Or is it.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
You know I don't hear about a lot of people traveling
there.
I've always wanted to go myself.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I think.
But La Paz, you'll find someand obviously the Salt Flats.
But on the whole, if you talkabout just general day-to-day, I
don't think you see manytravellers at all.
Yeah, I think it's quite aquiet country.
It's quite landlocked right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
What were the things that attracted you to it,
besides just the ability to seea bunch of different styles and
landscapes?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
What attracted me to it was definitely just the
landscapes Salt Flats.
What attracted me to it wasdefinitely just landscapes, salt
flats.
I wanted to ride down.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Death Road in La Paz.
Oh, you did a bike ride.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, yeah.
So that was a cool experience.
And then I wanted to go and seea mine.
So I went to Potosi to look inthe silver mine, which I think
is slightly ethical not sure,but you can buy presents for the
miners.
So you go to the marketbeforehand and there's like
things from like dynamite andtnt to children's books, to
(08:31):
cocoa leaves, to the foodanything that the miners might
need in their day-to-day life.
So we bought some dynamite,some children's books and some
cocoa leaves.
I think so, if you think aboutit, the cocoa leaves get some
food a day, they've got.
You think about it, the cocoaleaves get some food a day,
they've got.
You know that thing they chewon.
The dynamite helps their job sothey can blow up some stuff in
the mine, and then children'sbooks obviously for their
(08:57):
children.
So crazy experience yeah, youcan do like, you can book tours
and patosies to a silver minetool and if you're
claustrophobic or don't like thedark, wouldn't recommend it,
because you're going to have ahelmet on with a torch and
you're climbing up ladders andyou're getting led by this guide
who obviously knows where he'sgoing, but it's completely
pitched up and you sort of hitpointers in the mines.
(09:19):
You walk past like the.
They're like train tracks,aren't they where they?
They're not trains in them, butthey have these big like skip
type things, yeah, and theycarry them through.
So you might bump into someminers.
You can speak, if you speak,quechuan, which is quite rare,
but that's pretty good, but ifnot, I think Spanish will do and
you go and see their sort oflike their the angel of the of
(09:39):
the mine.
He's got like a huge penis.
So the the thing is, this isthe guy sitting in the corner.
Obviously it's like a sculpture, this huge penis, and there's
like a load of cocoa leaves onthe floor and uh, some money,
and apparently it's good luck ifyou bless it and all that sort
of stuff.
So it's a combination of uh,yeah, you can throw money and I
don't know what happens to themoney, but I'm sure the miners
(10:01):
pick it up.
But yeah, it's just like.
It's a strange experience, it'sa work in mind.
So you hear some explosions inthe distance and you hear, uh,
just people working, likechatting and working, and the
classic, like that sound of theis it the pitchfork or pitch
knife, whatever is that you'rebashing in the mind, those sort
of sounds.
It's a strange, weirdexperience and when you get out
(10:22):
of it you need to be careful,because you come out to daylight
and you've been in pitch darkfor an hour so that that
brightness hits you right.
You're like, oh, you can'treally see that well, so, all in
all, if you're potosi, it'sworth.
Uh, it's worth an experience.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah for sure isn't uh lake titicaca, which is
between la paz and it's kind ofon the border of peru?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
yeah, yeah, it did, but I I went.
I went on the floating boatswhich goes to the floating
islands, but I was really ill.
I must have eaten something theday before and I don't know why
.
I said yes, but I felt I had todo it.
No, I basically had the shits,so like I was just really
feeling really ill.
But if you, if you're not ill,it's a great tour.
You see the floating islandsand the people who live there.
(11:05):
You go and do some hike.
There's another island you cando like a hike and a viewpoint,
and obviously you can cross theborder, so, and there's all
sorts of options there.
But I don't think I reallyenjoyed it because I was so ill.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I was sick as well yeah, you know, I actually read
a book that talks quite a lotabout Lake Titicaca, and that
one is it a reed?
Plant.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Oh, yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's one plant.
Basically the entire island andthe people, all the inhabitants
of the lake, survive on thatplant.
Those boats are made out of it,the houses are made out of it,
I think they make food out of it.
Plan, like those books are madeout of it, the houses are made
out of it.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I think they make food out of it, um if I'm not
mistaken, and basically,everything that they do centers
around that point and you can goon that island and speak to the
locals with the guide, right?
So that's part of the tourwhich I did manage to get up and
do.
Um, that's the only thing Iremember, really, but yeah, that
that was an interestingexperience.
You know, you are just floatingon these reeds like they're
(12:05):
just it's a strange.
Another strange experience.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, so the islands themselves, the way I understand
it, that the float, they'refloating islands and they build
houses on the floating islandsand they live in them so
essentially, these people arefloating around, like when
they're sleeping at night.
They're floating yeah, yeah,exactly yeah so they start out
on this side of the lake and endup on the other side of the
lake, or it's not?
I don't.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I don't think it's that dramatic, but that's a
great question.
I don't know like can they justdrift to the mainland I?
I have no idea because you'reprobably about.
You're about 20 minutes boatride away from the mainland,
right or half an hour so.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So maybe it's just that they float and aren't
really connected to anything,but they don't go anywhere.
I don't know.
I'm going to check that myself.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
What if it's connected to the reeds
underneath the water?
Are they that secure in thelake that it's good enough for
them to stay?
Still, I have no idea.
That's a good question.
Again, if I listen, probably onthe tour I could tell you the
answer, but I was soconcentrated on not being sick I
was like, oh, I just need toget through it.
What was?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
the food, like I was going to ask you about that.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I know a lot of people get sick there, you know.
Yeah, I wouldn't rate it thatmuch.
I think the soups are good.
They're known for their soups,so it's not just like watery
soup, they put like lots ofvegetables in in there.
I kind of avoided meat becauseI got sick from eating chicken
so I just went a bit vegetarianthere because I couldn't risk
getting ill again.
But from what I remember, thesoups are good and that is
(13:31):
pretty much about it.
La Paz I really struggled withfood there.
Actually I went to Weston alittle bit because I couldn't
really grasp what their food was.
Maybe I need to go back andrevisit, but I couldn't tell you
the food, anything apart fromsoups and revisit, but I
couldn't tell you the foodanything apart from soups.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, sometimes I mean I've heard a lot of
negative about the food inBolivia from a lot of different
people and a lot of differentthings that I've read pretty
much everyone.
It's kind of like India, Ithink, in that way, where people
say just prepare to get sickyeah so but I've always wanted
to go I was so close.
You know when you're in Cuscoand Peru.
I don't know if you've beenthere.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah Lovely, yeah, yeah Awesome, right, yeah,
unbelievable.
I almost went um.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I almost went over to Bolivia from there, had some
extra days and it's only like asix or eight hour car ride, and
I just kind of got screwed upand I didn't end up going, and
since then I just haven't been.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I don't know, I've just had other priorities Was.
Peru, one of your favoritecountries.
Well, the Inca Trail isincredible, you can't deny that.
And Machu Picchu, I know it's abit cliche but it is
unbelievable, you get to see it.
And Peru, yeah, cusco is, like,weirdly, one of my favorite
places I went to in SouthAmerica, even though it's a bit
(14:46):
touristy and it is a hub.
Uh, I actually love the feel ofit, the cobbled streets.
I think you get lost there alittle bit and it's not too
touristy.
I think, yeah, I think you'refine.
Um, but like Lima, I didn'tlike at all.
Really what?
Lima is a bit dull, a bit gray,yeah, so I had a bit gray, yeah
, so I had a bit of a mixed uhvibe, but the cusco and the inca
trail combined was incredible.
(15:08):
Yeah, that is not not myfavorite country as a whole, but
those individual placesdefinitely for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, see I could.
I couldn't get on the inca.
When I went down there they hadjust changed the rules, um, and
they were only allowing like 2000 people per day or something
on the inca trail or I can'tremember exactly what the rule
was, but it was pretty strict atthat point and I think it maybe
still is, because all thesehikers are deteriorating the
land, so they're only allowingso many per day and I think the
(15:38):
wait right now or at least whenI went to pass that check, I
think was maybe a year or twoyears.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
So you put your name on a list and you're waiting two
years.
Really, I think ours was sixmonths in advance.
Yeah, ours was six months, sowe put that in there, I heard.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
now it's one to two years or something like that.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So my trip was kind of last minute.
Right, we went like kind oflast minute and we couldn't get
on it obviously, so we did thesalt on tag trail, which oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
It was awesome yeah, a lot of people do that trail
right, yeah yeah, it was great.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
It was five, uh, five days, four nights um and camped
out in these like awesome Imean, it was totally glamping
man it was it was.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
It was like a rich man glamping yeah where they
pitch it.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
They do everything for you, right?
They show up with these horsesand they take your duffel bag.
You can have a duffel bag withlike 20 kilos or 20 pounds I
can't remember which it was ofitems in it and they literally
show up with all these horses,these Indian guys who lived in
the wilderness.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And they come pick up your um, your stuff, and they
head off right and you hike forthree or four hours.
They're on horses, so they beatyou by several hours to the
next yeah and once you get there, they already have this
incredible lunch made for you.
I mean, it's like high classlunch, right, and you hang out
there for a little bit, eat anincredible meal and chill and
talk to everyone, and then, boom, boom.
(17:04):
The afternoon you do the sameexact thing.
They take off in front of you.
They have dinner ready when youget there and then at night
they'll have drinks ready foryou.
You know, liquor, whatever youwant to drink or eat at night is
there.
And then they have these likemakeshift, man-made, freezing,
cold, freaking showers.
Because you're, I don 15,800feet, so that would be a little
(17:34):
less than half of that.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, it's like 4,500 meters, maybe 5?
.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, that's about right.
I think some of the time it'sactually 5.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I think it's a little bit taller than the Inca Trail.
Yeah, I just thought on theInca Trail when you have a hard
day's hike and you see thosetents there and the big tent to
set up with all the food thereis nothing better and nothing
more.
Needed these these tents thatwe did they would have these.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I mean they're incredible.
Tents right.
And then, yeah, they're,they're covered with the straw
tent like yeah, incredible.
I mean you could well.
I mean you got cold because itwas below zero, but you didn't
get as cold as you think youwould, because they added and
the food is incredible, right asyou said there, and even our
food.
I think we just booked a normallocal tour operator, but the
food is incredible, likeunbelievable yeah, I never had
(18:24):
one, one single piece of food inin peru that I would complain
about, but even one that Iwouldn't tell you was some of
this food yeah, so yeah.
And you know we had people whenwe did our hike.
Everyone was chewing on cocaleaves the entire time, because
that's what you do to thin yourblood out so you can get to
those altitudes yeah.
(18:46):
You can get those altitudes.
And then we had four or fivepeople within our group who had
either higher horseback oroxygen.
They had oxygen, oh wow, really.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Oh wow, had four or five people within our group who
had either higher horseback oroxygen.
They had oxygen.
Oh wow, really oh wow.
So a couple people were onoxygen, riding horses, you do
see, like these horses and orponies that have come down, and
our guide was saying that theseare the guys that just given up
because they've obviously gottoo ill or they just can't do it
, like physically that's tootired.
Um, you kind of got animpression that you don't want
to be one of those peoplebecause it's such a an extra
(19:22):
admin for them, the cost.
They have two guys, probablyone guide has to go back and you
just need to make sure you candeal.
I know it's a bit randomsometimes, but the altitude is
key and you're fairly fit andyou can get the hike done.
I'm not the fittest guy but Idid manage to get through it.
But it is tough uphill battles,most of the first two days I
think.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I was pretty worried about it because we've done some
research on it.
When you get on Google, ittells you all what you just said
you need to prepare.
You can't just show up downthere a big, fat slob with no
exercise for the last two yearsand expect to make it.
So I think I lost like 15pounds or something in the
couple of months before I went.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
All right, wow, yeah, yeah, okay.
Good on you.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
But then luckily I got down there and you know it
ended up working out.
So I guess my training workedout for me and I chewed on a
heck of a lot of cocoa leaves.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I was at the World Cup in Brazil about for two,
three weeks before.
Right, I had a few weekstravelling after that before,
but I had no training.
So the only thing I hadtraining in was a bit of
altitude, because I went toNorthern Chile and Northern
Argentina so I had a little bitof altitude training, if you
like, in brackets.
But yeah, I had no training interms of physical doing stuff.
(20:41):
I was just in Rio partying upfor the World Cup, so I got away
with it.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I'm in Rio now.
I'm here.
That's where I am right now.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, great city unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
It's incredible, all of Brazil actually.
It's incredible and I would sayRio is probably the hardest
place in Brazil to meet people.
They're a little bit morestandoffish just because.
I don't know why but I thinktouristy cities like this
sometimes can be standoffish,because you're just there for
three days and you're gone, orleave and you're gone, so they
don't care about meeting Onceyou're here for a while.
(21:11):
Notice at this time.
Once you're here for a while,they really warm up to you.
They start passing places overand over.
But yeah, I love Rio.
Is there a more beautiful citythan Rio?
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, those cities on the water.
Vancouver is similar and Sydney.
I can think of one as wellwhere it just has that natural
harbour and they've got thebeaches.
Vancouver has no beaches, butSydney obviously does.
Those cities on the water, youcan't beat them.
I don't think there's justsomething about it where you've
got the mix of a happening citywith great beaches and a great
lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Hong Kong was another one that I did.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Ah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I flew in Hong Kong man.
There's so much energy in thatcity that I couldn't sleep.
I was there three weeks.
I could barely sleep.
I could not stop seeing stuff.
I've been three times now, butyeah what an?
Incredible place.
I would say Hong Kong and Rioat this point in my travel
(22:11):
career are my most definitelythe two most beautiful cities.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yes, it's an interesting one.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Your other two big ones.
Yeah, these do change regularly, so I'll have you on in the
next six months.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, let's go a recent one.
I did have a really good timein Oman, I must admit, in Middle
East.
Oman, yeah.
So Oman is on the coast next toYemen and Saudi Arabia and UAE
(22:48):
I think they border those threebut totally safe for the desert,
but also for the pristinebeaches and islands, and super
safe with great roads.
So if you're looking to do aroad trip and speak to some
locals, uh, amani people,they're really cool and they can
also speak english and theywouldn't help you out.
Hospitality is incredible.
So we had a 10-day road tripthere in muscat.
(23:11):
We started in muscat and thenheaded down through ras al
jinn's to wahiba sands and thendown to masira island, uh, back
up through bala and uh, jabreenand, yeah, just had the, and
nizwa as well, which is like a,an old capital.
Just had the most incredibletime.
Lots of different things to see.
(23:31):
Uh, cheap petrol you're gonnaget I don't know you do gallons,
right, so what's that about?
Four liters?
You're probably gonna pay, Idon't know a dollar for a gallon
, something like that.
Super cheap.
So road tripping is cheap andthe food's incredible, the
people are incredible and thescenery is out of this world.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
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(24:55):
Oman wow you, you threw me offwith that one.
I don't know.
I don't know if I've ever evenspent any time reading about it
until this is my first educationon oman oman.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Okay, yeah, they did.
They have um a lot of likeinternational flights into
muscat, so it's quite, quitegood.
Oman air is one of the bestairlines in the world so you can
get some good flights there andthey have cheap flights out to.
You can go to like.
We flew to Nepal so we went toKathmandu from there, or you can
go from Europe.
It's pretty cheap and they evenfly down south to like Tanzania
(25:26):
, to Africa, so it's a nice hubto be based in.
What's the food like Food isabsolutely incredible.
It's that sort of spicychickpea lentils and a lot of
bread, like the sort of mixbetween pita and naan bread, I
suppose, isn't it?
Lots of vegetables and meat.
These like spicy.
They've got a lot of Indian andPakistani influence as well, so
(25:48):
they have a lot of those likeIndian type tasting curries as
well.
So we had a plethora of foodand, yeah, just incredible.
The food's incredible and thecoffee is great as well.
The coffee was the biggestthing for me last year.
That was the best country forcoffee they've got they've got
it going I didn't go to brazillast year, so I'll I'll caveat
that, but, like for last year'strip, um, I think omaha was up
(26:11):
there in the top two for bestcoffee you know what's
interesting?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
I've spent a lot of time in Colombia, a lot of time.
In fact I lived there forseveral years and as good as you
know, they just have areputation around the world.
It's like the best coffee.
Yeah, yeah, and I think that'sright.
Right, I think that they haveincredible coffee because you
can grow anything in Colombia,the soil is just so fertile.
(26:37):
But I'll say that inside thecountry, I was not impressed at
all.
There were a couple of placeslike when you go down to the
coffee region, which is likeParia de Manizales, all that.
Those people know coffee.
They're giving you their gradeA coffee.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah, yeah, I drank some really know coffee.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
They're giving you their grade A coffee.
I drink some really good coffee, but what I learned is Colombia
actually exports all theirgrade A beans to other countries
and they leave the B, c, dquality beans in their country
for their own people.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Even the locals were like if you don't go to a coffee
farm where people still havesome grade A beans that they
haven't decided to export yet,you're not going to get good
coffee here.
Wow, there you go.
That's incredible.
Yeah, yeah, I imagine no oneprobably gets the Colombian
beans right.
So there you go.
That's probably why it tastesso good, yeah maybe.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I mean, you know, I think that's probably accurate
and you know I've had brazilianbeans in a lot of other
countries as well, which isinteresting.
You know you get to anothercoffee country like brazil I'm
sorry, colombia.
In colombia I had tons ofbrazilian beans and so it
doesn't make much sense.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
It's a shame that they have to export the best
stuff.
I do find that a real big shame.
That's just business, I suppose.
Right.
But it's a shame that localsdon't get to taste their own
great coffee.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That is a bit of a shame, and something that was
interesting about Colombia isthey you know, if you order
coffee, it's just coffee.
You're not going to get like aStarbucks type latte, I mean you
can get lattes and all that.
That's not what they're good at, right.
They're good at the process ofmaking a regular brew.
Yeah, when you task them withthrowing in a bunch of sugar and
(28:30):
extra flavors and stuff likethat, it's just not.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I just don't think they want to do that right.
Yeah yeah, sugar and extraflavors and stuff like that.
It's just not.
I just don't think they want todo that Right, I think.
Yeah yeah, that's fair enough.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Maybe a professional coffee farmer.
They feel like it might screwup.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So you know, I um, I saw on your website you had
mentioned, and I think you'regoing to agree, I think we
definitely.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Oh yeah, I think travel is never a bad idea,
because of two reasons really,and I can't see any way out of
it If you're interested intravel but you're a bit scared,
or you're financially not sure,whatever.
If you go and do a travel tripcould be a month or two weeks,
whatever.
It is somewhere new, a bit offthe beaten track for yourself.
(29:16):
What are the two things thatare going to happen?
Well, number one you're goingto hate it, that's fine.
You go back home, but at leastyou learn something about
yourself.
So that's good for future lifestuff.
Right, you probably learnedthat maybe you don't like that
culture or you don't like thatcountry, or the way you traveled
wasn't good.
You learn something aboutyourself that's going to be
invaluable going forward.
(29:37):
So that's good for the soul,because I think you learn
something about yourself.
Number two you're gonna love itand it's gonna be like me,
where you can't stop and andyourself.
So you go to one country youlove that.
You think, oh, where can I gonext?
And this starts this journeythroughout your life where
you're constantly thinking aboutwhat is possible for my next
adventure.
I think that's a great thingtoo.
So I don't actually rank bothof them higher than one than the
(29:58):
other.
It's just about what yoursituation is and how it goes for
you, right?
So it's a win-win.
I I can't see any other um wayother than that I don't think I
think it becomes a drug.
I mean, you just said it in adifferent way.
It becomes a drug um for manyreasons I it's constant learning
, nonsense, 24 hours a day whenyou're in another country.
(30:20):
It's not something, yeah, andyou know I've 24 hours a day
when you're in another country.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
It's nonstop learning .
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah, and you know, I've always said.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I think that you learn more about your own
country when you're travelingthan the country you're actually
traveling in.
True, which is incredible.
Yeah, I think it's one of thosethings that I don't know, man.
Once you get the bug, it's justI don't know how to stop it.
I've never been able to, um,yeah, tell me about it.
But I would say, like, goingback to what you just said, like
if you go for a week or two, Idon't even know that guys like
you and I could even sitconsider that travel anymore.
(30:47):
That's just a quick, quickgetaway, right because, yeah,
it's a.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
It's a conversation, isn't it?
About the traveler versus theexplorer, if you like, or the
tourist versus the explorer.
Yeah, it's a very interestingchat yeah, I think if you stay
less than two weeks, um yeah,we'll put you in that tourist
category and there's so muchlearning that comes after the
two weeks, right when you, whenyou actually have to go do
(31:12):
something like laundry in aplace where you don't speak the
language yeah, yeah, yeah yeahthose basic things that become
you know, I think takes it fromtourism to exploration yeah, I
think I don't know what thecutoff point is, whether it's
two, three weeks, but some ofthe other options I could have
(31:34):
given you for like the countries, um, like, if my third country
would be a combination one ofthe three of thailand, vietnam
or new zealand, and all of whichI've spent at least two months
in, so definitely thailand andvietnam, and I lived in new
zealand for a year.
So, like, I think when you dothat sort of portion of time in
those countries, you do get toknow the nuances about what you
(31:57):
like and don't like about thecountries.
I think that is key as well,because you say if you dip in
for two weeks, you're not goingto learn too much, especially if
it's a fast-paced trip andyou're dotting around quite
quickly.
But then, saying that if you goto Europe and you do the
micronations, like Andorra, sanMarino and Liechtenstein like we
did last year and Monaco, Imean they're about as big as our
(32:23):
houses, right, so thatliterally a day and you've done
everything in it in terms oflike walking around.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
So I guess it depends on the size of the country as
well you know, for me, beingAmerican, it's um, for most
Americans, um, you know, it'sit's.
I think that many people aroundthe world laugh at us because
we'll go to Europe for 10 daysand be like I'm gonna backpack
(32:47):
Europe.
How many countries can you see?
I'm gonna see nine countries in10 days.
You're just gonna go like putyour foot in and run to the next
train yeah, yeah.
How do you do that right?
I mean, I was there for 10 days, probably 20 years ago, and I
saw Munich, germany, and then wetook a nine-hour train ride to
(33:11):
the Czech Republic.
Prague yeah, it's one of myfavorite cities, but it was all
we could do to get those twocities in, really actually yeah,
yeah, of course.
Because if you're in and out,you just, you just don't have
time to really mesh with thelocals.
You're not going to learn muchabout the food In a week or two.
Yeah, I guess you're an eightyear old.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
That's just a lot of stuff you miss, so I don't know.
You did a backpack trip through.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Southeast Asia, didn so I don't know.
You did a backpack trip throughSoutheast Asia, didn't you?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, I've done a few .
I've done, I think, two, maybethree.
The first one was 2013.
That was three months inSoutheast Asia, and the second
one was probably 2017, for six,seven weeks, maybe two months, I
can't quite remember.
But yeah, I actually repeat thesame trip, but one was a
younger myself, I was 23 orsomething and the second time
(34:03):
was with my girlfriend now.
So it's two different types oftrips, but most of the same
places.
But what's interesting, you seethe place that you've seen
before, but in a different angle.
So the first trip was a lot ofpartying, right.
So Southeast Asia is great.
If you want to guarantee to meetother backpackers similar age
on the same sort of route aroundthe region, that's a good place
(34:25):
to start.
Start in Bangkok, work your wayeast, go up around Vietnam,
then work your way west throughLaos and northern Thailand and
back down.
It's quite a popular route andthat is incredible the amount of
stuff you can see and do andall the tourist visas are like
three or four months, so you'vegot no rush and it's cheap.
So if you're looking for abudget backpack area, southeast
(34:46):
asia is still, in my opinion, upthere with one of the cheapest,
even though it's been aroundfor 20 years, like thailand's
always been for a long time been.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, popular vietnam's really coming up.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I understand yeah, I went to vietnam, I said in 2013,
and I was a bit shocked becauseI was a bit what's the word?
A bit green in those days.
I was like oh wow, this isquite a modern country even in
those times.
And then I went back in 2017and I think vietnam is the next
place where maybe, like digitalnomads are going to go, because
I think it's up and coming, it'sgot great internet, the locals
are super nice, half apopulation under 30.
(35:18):
I just think it's up and coming.
It's got great internet, thelocals are super nice, half the
population are under 30.
I just think it's got thatyouthful vibe of it's going
somewhere right and it's allsuper safe and lots of see and
do.
There's little pockets whereit's really touristy, like Nha
Trang, ha Long Bay.
They're going to get theChinese and the Russian tourists
, but other than that, I thinkas a country as a whole, there's
(35:39):
so much to see and do and I wastalking to my friend here.
She's vietnamese and she wassaying you've got the classic
cities and towns that we all goto.
There's westerns and I can youcan reel them off on a
backpacking trip.
Then there's the alternateplaces that the locals go to
that the backpackers don't go to.
So I'm like, ah oh, next time Iwant to do that trip.
I want to get a list of theseplaces that are next to the
(36:00):
tourist places and go to thelocal vietnamese places and see
what it's like.
Is any different is?
Can anyone speak english, likeall that sort of stuff?
Right?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
so you know what's helped me with that and, totally
by accident, um is airbnb, um.
So you know I've been in somesituations where you know I was
trying to get an airbnb asactually now.
There was just a huge event inRio, the place I had rented my
time was up there.
(36:28):
I tried to extend, but someoneelse had already extended it, so
I was forced to move.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
When I started looking at other.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Airbnbs.
There was nothing in any of thetourist places like Copacabana,
ipanema.
It was all taken up by allthese people coming in for this
huge music event.
So I found this wonderful house, incredible house, about 30
minutes outside of Rio and butit's on the train line right the
Metro.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Within, you know, within 20 minutes I can be back
here for all the stuff that I'malready doing the gym food,
whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
So I'm doing the gym food, whatever it is, yeah, um,
so I'm gonna get this out, man.
I came out here and it's beenthe most incredible airbnb
experience definitely top two orthree that I've ever had in my
life.
Oh wow the lady that owns theplace is that she's.
She lives in the apartment nextdoor and so, like every morning
, she asked me if she could dothis.
Every single morning she'llcome in to the kitchen and she
makes a big, huge thermos ofcoffee.
She leaves three or four thingsthere that you can eat for
(37:22):
breakfast in the morning.
You know, like breads, Itypically don't eat it, but
anyway.
And then every single night,every night since I've been here
I've been here for about sevendays now I think I have two more
days here Every single night Icome in and she'll text me and
be like, text me and be like,hey, did you get back from the
gym?
I'm like, yeah, I got back.
And she brings over some formof dinner.
It'll be kind of hearty soupwith fresh grape juice like real
(37:45):
grapes that she's boiled andmade into a fresh grape juice.
Sometimes it's this thingcalled tapioca which they stuff
in Brazil.
It's like a quesadilla and theystuff it with just whatever and
she'll bring me.
One night It'll have chickenlike seasoned chicken.
The next night it'll have eggsand cheese.
Every single night.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Incredible.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Airbnb forces you sometimes to be out in areas
that you typically wouldn'tchoose, and in Sao Paulo it was
the same.
I probably know seven or eightdifferent neighborhoods in Sao
Paulo, because I'll just get acouple of weeks in the
neighborhood and then, get acouple of weeks somewhere else,
and somewhere else, andsomewhere else.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
And the next thing you know, you know half the city
, you know more than the localsright.
That's the great thing aboutAirbnb if it's done properly,
because it's a big problem inVancouver where people just buy
houses just to rent out becauseit's a moneymaker maker.
But if Airbnb was like the olddays, where the local owns it
and you stay with, like you know, next door to the person who
owns it, like you do, that's theproper experience that you want
(38:46):
, because that is what it'sdesigned to do.
Meet a local I mean, whatyou're describing is
unbelievable where they'regiving you food that's like
extras, but you just want a bitof guidance, like around the
local area.
That is what you want and Ithink if you can get that
experience in most places, Ithink you're a winner because
you get a bit more of a localexperience well, I never liked,
(39:06):
I've never been used to livingor staying with anybody.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
I still like that, right, I'm like a little bit
past that.
I'm just way past that actuallyin age I guess.
American ideology, sure um, butI've had some us American
ideology, sure Um.
But I've had some situationstraveling by Mexico city.
Anyway the eight.
95% of my Airbnb stays havealways been me just renting my
(39:32):
own apartment.
Okay, and, but then there'sbeen these extraneous
circumstances where I was kindof forced to get a room, like in
Mexico city.
I was forced to get a room therein the good part of town for
one or two nights, I can'tremember, and then immediately
you go in there's three or fourdifferent people in the house,
and almost always they've beenthere at least a week or several
(39:53):
days before you.
So you learn so much about thecity.
You get all kinds of littletips from them.
So once I realized that, thento your, your point.
I sometimes will look for thatright when I go.
Yeah, really nice house for atleast three or four days, learn
some stuff, and then go out andget my own place.
Yeah, yeah it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
In it you can get experience.
Yeah, I try and find that allstaying hostels or local hotels.
That's kind of all guest housesif you're in Asia, but um, yeah
, that's I try and find that allstaying in hostels or local
hotels or guest houses.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
If you're in Asia.
That's what I try to do.
I need to get some Asia in.
I haven't done a lot of Asia,only first world Asia.
I've never done a lot of Asia.
I'm going to hit Vietnam nextyear.
With all this experience, doyou have any hacks or trips?
We're going to hit Vietnam nextyear, so do you have any?
With all this experience, doyou have any hacks or trips I'm
sorry hacks or tips or anythinglike that that you would share
(40:49):
with people?
Speaker 2 (40:51):
In terms of how to travel.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I don't know Packing tips.
It could be.
It could be how to find thebest deals on stays.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
I sort of do wing it a little bit.
So, uh, what I mean by that isI've got my trip coming up
november in el salvador and thenguatemala and mexico.
I won't book anything apartfrom the first two nights and
then I'll just see what is nextplace to go, probably based on a
local recommendation orresearch while I'm there.
And the reason I do that isbecause you can always book in
(41:25):
advance on bookingcom orHostelworld, and I might do that
one or two times.
But you do want to leave a bitof space for someone to
recommend somewhere to go.
That's local.
So I've got two interviewslined up in San Salvador with
two locals for the podcast I'mdoing.
Well, I'm going to ask them,right, well, where should I go
next?
Where's even best to stay here?
So I want to leave that open,right, so I do, probably will go
(41:48):
on Hostelworld that's probablymy go-to for hostels and
Bookingcom for accommodationsand Airbnb, as you said.
And for packing, I don't pack asuitcase or go check luggage,
so I go with carry-on only.
So, probably about 10 kilos,and I pack that bag with as much
as I need, as much when you'rethere, right, yep, yep, as much
(42:09):
as I go, admin as I go.
Last year we had for the year10 to 12 kilos and then an extra
day pack.
That was the whole year's worthof stuff, which was interesting
.
I'm also a big renter of cars.
I do like renting cars out anddriving and then it takes a bit
of balls to do that becauseyou're in a different country or
even mopeds or scooters.
I don't mind doing that either,but I like seeing, either
(42:32):
walking a place quite a lot, orgoing on the local roads and
trying to check out the, thetowns and cities around that.
So Vietnam's a great place toget a bike out.
I know it's a bit crazy, but ifyou can get past the first day
culture shock, then it's a goodplace to see on a bike.
Thailand the same as well, evenMyanmar.
We biked around in Bagan onelectric scooters.
(42:53):
They're quite fun.
So, yeah, I love publictransport.
I love trains, probably busesand trains.
Yeah, I go local.
So, yeah, transport a lot oftrains, probably buses and
trains.
I, yeah, I go local.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
So, yeah, just kind of keep it as local and as
probably as cheap as possibleand authentic as possible if you
can yeah, you know, I've had somany business people that I've
met over the years that you knowthey'll say world travel is so
expensive.
And when you talk to them abouthow they're traveling you, find
out why they think it's soexpensive and, to be fair, it
takes years for anyone to travelalone and start figuring out
(43:28):
how to make it.
You know, afford right Becausein the beginning even us
seasoned travelers when you goto a new place, you're going to
spend more in those first twoweeks to a month than you are in
the second, third month You'regoing to start figuring it out,
right, yeah, but you starttalking to a lot of business
(43:48):
people like man.
I've got to have $100 million tobe able to travel the world
like my wife used to do andyou're like, oh, where are you
guys?
Going to stay and they're likeoh, we're going to stay at the W
Hotel.
You could rent a full houseright on Airbnb for a fourth of
what you're going to pay for ahotel, right.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
You're going to live a better life living in a house
or an apartment than you wouldin a hotel.
You could cook if you want to.
I mean, it's just so much morecomfortable the longer you stay,
you know, to get a house and anapartment than it is to stay in
a hotel.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
All depends how comfortable you are, right.
So an example would be what Iwould do if I'm in Vietnam and
I'm taking a bus up or train andit's overnight.
Well, are you willing to notpay for an overnight
accommodation because you got atrain?
So can you sleep on trains?
Are you comfortable with that?
That saves an accommodation,these sort of things.
We're on a road trip last yearacross Canada.
We would do probably Max threenights in a row on a truck stop
(44:50):
because it, because you justturn up and park and sleep.
Right, you have your own food.
You cook a little food in thecamper van, that's fine.
It all depends if you can dothat.
If you can't do that, I assumebusiness people are probably
used to a certain standard whenthey travel, which is fair
enough.
Nothing against that.
But if they are used to that,they can't complain the expense
of that because that isexpensive the way they do it.
There's no two ways about it.
(45:12):
But yeah, it all depends howeasily you can rough it a little
bit in certain countries, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
Well, I think it's about changing the mindset, and
I think even even businesspeople, business person myself I
think it's just changing themindset from thinking that you
have to stay in a 10-star hotelBecause you don't.
You're going to be much happierin a really nice house than you
are in a hotel, no matter whereyou are.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
No matter who you are or what your socioeconomic
status is, you're going to behappier in an apartment or a
house.
Yeah, you can do it for a hellof a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
So next on your travel list is Guatemalaatemala,
mexico and what'd you say?
Speaker 1 (45:58):
el salvador?
That's where I'm starting.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Yeah yeah, I'm looking forward to.
I've seen a lot of stuff thisyear, so looking forward to
getting stuck in probably at 10days there, I think so you're
gonna do some live podcastingdown there yeah.
So I've got two interviews linedup for san salv, salvador,
where I start, so that's cooland they're locals.
I may have a third, just inconversations, and then I'll
start to probably organizeGuatemala for that as well.
(46:22):
So, probably Antigua I mightsee if there's someone there who
wants to come on, who's local.
And then definitely in Oaxaca,new Mexico, I'm going to go
there and get some people tocome on and then, yeah, I might,
I might nip to Belize as well,because I want to do the flight
over the blue hole.
I probably do have one rule,one extravagant experience that
(46:42):
could be paragliding or or askydive done before you know
stuff like that.
So my one for this trip isgoing to be, hopefully, a scenic
flight over the Blue Hole inBelize.
So that's on my list.
But, yeah, it'll just be amonth over land, crossing
borders, public transport noreal plan.
I have a few things in my mind,but nothing to nail down.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
So let's see what happens.
You have a few things scratchedout on paper, but no details in
the middle.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Yeah, yeah, Best way to be.
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
You and I are similar .
Any city that has a metro and areally good subway system.
Like Rio Sao Paulo, they bothhave incredible metro.
Yeah, absolutely no reason tohave a car.
It's faster to take the metro.
It's cleaner to take the metro.
Yeah, obviously it helps a lottoo.
How do people get?
(47:32):
Uh, how many, how many episodesare you doing?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
you're doing an episode every week, right?
Yeah, I won't do.
It's a mix.
Actually, I'm gonna do theguests, whatever.
How many of that is could bethree or four, um two now.
So I'll do maybe one inguatemala, one in mexico, maybe
more, we'll see and then I'mgoing to do uh eight sort of
episodes.
They're like immersive audioepisodes, um sort of trialing at
the minute, where collectsounds and uh talk live on the
(47:56):
ground but also provides theoverview whilst doing the
episode.
So there's gonna be eight ofthose for the trip.
So two a week, uh, detailingall the different parts I'm in.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
So yeah, that's but you're still, you're podcasting
even when you're not traveling.
Right, you're still released,yeah, yeah podcasting.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Even when you're not traveling, right, you're still
releasing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I probably won't do those soloepisodes whilst I'm traveling
until maybe Mexico, because Ineed, as you know, you need to
be somewhere stable andsomewhere you can have like good
internet for a start, but alsosomewhere quiet you can do your
voiceovers.
So I don't think I'll get thatuntil Mexico.
So that'll be the last week ofmy trip.
But the interviews, I might beable to get them out in quick
(48:32):
time, so we'll see.
Yeah, but it'll be a good endto the year.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
There'll be a lot of Central America stuff for the
last 6-7 weeks of the year, Ithink well, if there's anything
on those trips that I might beable to help out with, let me
know.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I know quite a bit about Latin America.
I don't know much aboutGuatemala.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
I know a little bit about Salvador just reading.
I used to have a really bigfurniture customer in Salvador
actually who had 800 stores.
They had a warehouse inSalvador.
They had 800 stores all overSouth America.
I learned quite a bit aboutSalvador.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
How do people reach out to you and tell me what's
the name of the over SouthAmerica?
So I learned quite a bit aboutthe South Nice Doing business
with those guys.
But how do people reach out toyou and tell me what's the name
of the podcast so they can?
Where are you publicizing that?
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Yeah, so it's Winging it Travel Podcast.
That's posted all over Appleand YouTube and Spotify the same
name for website, sowingingittravelpodcastcom On.
There's all the links if youwant to go on there.
And I'm mostly on Instagram ismy main hub.
I do YouTube shorts as well onmy youtube channel and also I'm
(49:39):
on tick-tock not great on therebut got get the Gen Z's involved
and I do share it to Facebook,but not really on Facebook.
You can find wing at childpodcast on there too, but mainly
Instagram.
And if you want to send me anemail, you can submit a form
through that website or you cansend one to jameshammondtravel
at gmailcom and that is prettymuch it, yeah awesome man.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Well, hey, I appreciate you coming on.
I think we, uh we got a lot ofgood information out for people
and I'll be keeping up with youand I'm sure we'll be in touch
in the near future.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, it's been great fun.
Cheers, matt, for having me on,really appreciate it and I hope
the listeners get something outof it, and if they've got any
questions they can just reachout to me.
I'm pretty open to that.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Thanks, man.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
Appreciate it, Cheers dude.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of
Matt Chambers Connects.
Stay tuned for upcomingepisodes where we'll dive deeper
into these two fascinatingworlds.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please subscribe to our YouTube
channel, matt Chambers Connects.
You can also find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts, youtube Music
and many other major podcastplatforms, so you don't miss a
(50:45):
show.
Also, please join us on oursocial media channels so you can
connect with other listenersand ask your most pressing
questions and also tell us whattypes of guests you'd like to
see on the show.
Thanks again, and I'll see younext time.
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