September 13, 2025 • 35 mins
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Any Ping-Pong players in the house? We hear from a Backpacker who was lured into a Bangkok night club and extorted for money! Learn how saying 'Yes' can be a very expensive mistake.
Hostel Common Room returns with a heartfelt question that will resonate with all you travellers out there: What's the best way to deal with the travel blues? How do we remain patient and disciplined whilst gearing up for our next adventure?
Adam announces he's in the process of purchasing a campervan. Has he been misguided by his romantic dreams of travelling New Zealand? Two things we do know: he knows nothing about camping or vans.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello and welcome to this episode of It's the only
backpacking show where the hostsget on a plane fly about the
World Travel. I'm Alan and I'm here with one
of the greatest travels of all time and my best friend.
It's the ever mobile Adam. We've got a wicked one in store
for you today mate. I'm excited to be back.
(00:24):
I'm going to tell you what I've been up to, some very
interesting, very exciting and very expensive plans ahead.
And then we're going to hear from a listener in the second
section of the show with a hostel common room.
And then of course, Tales of a Trip where we hear a recording
from one of you lovely guys. Double listener LED content, I
love it. All that stuff going on at
apologypodcast.com. Very interesting indeed.
(00:46):
Adam, how are you mate? You're looking every bit the
same age as last time I saw you.How has it been going on?
You wait till next week where I have a shave.
Jesus Christ, I wish I could grab a beard.
I can't grab a beard. Do you think at the age of 36 I
may be past it and I've got to just forget about that and do
deal with what I've got? Well, a lot of the evidence that
(01:07):
I've seen suggests that as soon as your beard gets to about the
length that it is now, you shaveit off.
So if you maybe stop running a sharp blade across your face,
you might have more success. Yeah, yeah, no, but you haven't
got any tips. I mean Someone Like You who's
got a full a full chin of beard.Yeah, I simply don't shave it.
That is my tip. Between between the beard tips
(01:30):
and the toenail infection cutting tips if you don't TuneIn
for other of those. I mean, I don't, frankly, I
don't know why you're listening.Yeah, but there is a point where
you'll notice if you refrain from shaving, you will
eventually grow a beard. Patchy or otherwise.
Yeah, this week mate. I've been bloody busy.
I have been looking and I'm on the verge of buying a van.
(01:55):
Wow, is it a Honda Odyssey? The the most famous van used for
vanning in New Zealand. No, but it has got an equally
cool, cool name. It's called the Mazda Bongo A.
Mazda Bongo. OK The Odyssey.
An amazing word that brings to mind venture and travel and
(02:16):
going across the high seas. The bongo, of course.
One of the funniest drums. Yeah, I mean it looks like a a
small little camper van and we're looking at one at the
minute, hopefully taking it for an inspection this week just to
make sure there's nothing weird and wonderful going on.
(02:36):
It is a lot of money of course, but that might mean that in the
future, in the near future and also in the mid future that we
can go out on very long trips and live the van life.
Because I think if there's ever a country where it should be
travelled that way, it's probably New Zealand, isn't it?
Yeah, a lot of the backpackers in New Zealand of course, buy a
cheap van, put a mattress in theback of it, get in that van.
(02:58):
You can wild camp all over the country.
It's very, very easy. This is often done and do know a
couple of people who've had their vans robbed whilst they're
in New Zealand, so that's something to be aware of.
Not by Kiwis I'm sure, I think not by sheep.
And that that's basically 90% ofthe people on the South Island.
So. Yeah, so you've got 10% chance
of having a van robbed is what you're saying?
(03:19):
That's actually pretty high, no?So I have got a little travel
conundrum to ask you about, and I try not to get too sort of
philosophical or abstract, but it is so much more expensive to
buy a van. And I don't know if you know the
difference between a van that's self-contained and one that
isn't. But basically there's rules in
place, you know, the sort of reserves and local councils and
(03:43):
parks, national parks and all these sort of governing bodies
that try to keep New Zealand squeaky clean, which we
appreciate. It's a good thing overall.
What it means is that if your van is not self-contained, IE
you don't have a certain amount of water capacity in there in
the form of bottles for each individual people, you can't
manage your waste well. I think it's got to be like for
three days and 24 litres per person and all this sort of
(04:06):
stuff. You have to have toilets that
are housed inside your van. It it's, it basically means that
you, you need to be able to go to the toilet and manage your
waste for three days in order tobe classed as self-contained,
something along those lines. Otherwise, you're not able to
freedom camp and you can get fines of up to sort of $800 if
you get caught by Park Rangers. Right.
(04:26):
Well, that's interesting becausepeople of course have very, very
different schedules when it comes to waste production.
Yeah, I don't think that's the main concern, but I get what
you're saying. I would like to be monitored for
three days, see what it is that I produce on average, and then
judge me based on that information going forward.
(04:48):
Well you're amazing Sir. You've not shit in three days so
you actually don't need to have a bucket on board.
You're still self-contained. These things are, they are of
course expensive, but what it also means is there's this
massive gulf between vans that have just been converted and
you've got sort of a very basic bed in the bag.
And then vans that have been converted and they're slightly
more elaborate and they've got atoilet on board and they've been
(05:10):
given the green or blue stamp asbeing self-contained, but
they're like sometimes twice as expensive.
Now I do understand the benefit of being self-contained because
it means you can freedom camp insome designated areas.
You don't necessarily need to goand pay for a campsite.
Of course that it doesn't make it sort of redundant having a
camper van if you sleep in a a campsite, but it does obviously
(05:30):
restrain you somewhat, restrict you somewhat.
However, the price difference isso massive, I'm looking at this
as is it the dream that I'm chasing and therefore having to
fork out extra money? Or should I go for the sensible
option which is of course the converted car, which is in some
cases half the price and you canstill get them self-contained
(05:52):
and they might be 567-8000 depending on the condition.
The vans you're talking like 12/14/17 in some cases.
But the the romantic idea I had in my head of travelling New
Zealand, it was in a van, it wasn't in a car.
Yeah, I mean I have done the whole van life thing once before
in Canada. I got a a car.
(06:15):
Oh, Chica, Chica was her name. Took all the seats out the back,
put some blankets down, sort of makeshift mattress.
I actually put some like CrossFit mats down as blankets
on top of that and sleeping bag in there and had a little space
here that didn't work and and a few little things.
And I used to go out there quiteoften to the National Park,
(06:35):
sleep under the stars, open the doors, just chill.
And the longest I ever spent in there continuously was seven
days. Long enough I.
Can have. I have to tell you on no
occasion during that seven days that I think I wish I could piss
and shit aboard the car. Well, if you only go once every
(06:56):
three or four days, so you'd only had to tackle that problem
once, so. No, contrary to mythology, I go
to the toilet like an ordinary person.
But at no point did I think you know what really enhance this
Canadian road trip? The ability to defecate and
mixture 8 without ever leaving the comfort of my vehicle.
So I would say yes, you're chasing.
(07:18):
You're chasing an illusion, a dream. 2 words self-contained,
attached by a sexy little hyphenthat make you feel on top of the
world. But in actual fact, you don't
need it mate. Just get a nice cheap runner
that you can sleep inside and goto a cafe.
You are, you do. You do touch on a good point
because the guy that might be selling us the van, when he was
(07:40):
showing us the toilet and the waste management system, we
asked him oh how often to use the toilet.
He was like never. Literally never.
I've never used it, and no one who has a self-contained van
with a toilet on board ever usesit.
So it's just for the legislationthat so that you can park
anywhere. And it means that you do have
the ability to manage your wasteon board, I suppose.
So there are genuine reasons. But the only reason you wanted
(08:01):
that is so that you can freedom camp, right?
It's just so that you don't get stopped by the.
Yeah, because there are designated areas.
It's just many, many areas across New Zealand where you can
freedom camp and it just makes it much more easy.
You can pull up by the side of the road in some places, some
small towns, and just park your car and you're allowed to stay
there because if they catch you sleeping in your car and you're
not self-contained, they will whack a fine on your bonnet.
(08:22):
Why? Not just get get the cheapest
version and then get 23 litres or whatever it is worth of
bucket and put it in the backseat.
I don't know if they have to be special.
I don't know enough about it really.
And if he says, Sir, that doesn't look like a very
comfortable toilet, you say, wait there, I've got a little
performance to show you because it actually is a.
Comfortable toilet if you knew some of the places I've done a
(08:45):
shit officer. You'd be surprised.
A little bit of eye contact whilst doing a demonstration of
your toilet and the cops go running.
It'll be me who's charging you $800 to see this.
But no, mate, I, I do think it'san interesting point in that,
you know, please e-mail in if you've got something to share,
(09:06):
topologypodcast@gmail.com. Because sometimes we have this
idea in our head of we want whatwe want a trip to be.
And for me, driving around New Zealand in a van seems so much
more romantic is what I kind of thought about over the last 10
years. The way that I would travel this
beautiful country was in a camper van living the van life.
If that then all of a sudden is reduced to driving around in a
converted car, that's a bit uglyand probably too small.
(09:29):
I don't know if I'll be regretting that.
See, I've never had this fixation.
I've never had this fantasy. Like I come across it all the
time, particularly in the music world.
I think people are really guiltyfor this where people are like
oh but my dream instrument is a as a guitar crafted in the in
the USA of all the steeps in thehistory.
(09:50):
It uses a special glue and all that.
I think it's so much cooler to have an absolute beater that you
find in a charity shop with bitschipped off it that you just get
and like make it your own with what you play on it.
Same with the car I think is waycooler to get the fucking thing
that's all broken and rusty and you made it work and you like
had it and created an affinity with it and had this adventure
(10:12):
with it. Then getting the spic and span
thing where like oh, you can actually drink your own way.
Once it's gone through our special filtration system, it's
ever so comfortable. Fuck that car, man.
That's for posh people, rich people, people who want comfort.
That's not us. I reckon.
Just get the rusty old bag. Forget the romanticization of
it, just make it work. No no, I mean the van is one of
(10:34):
these and up bashed up storytelling.
Doesn't sound like it mate, sounds like an absolute shit
mobile. Anyway, stay tuned because we're
going to have it sent into into a garage for an inspection and
they check all the gobbins, all the engine, and all the other
stuff that mechanics talk about.Oh, you've already bought it?
No, I haven't bought it, but if it passes it's pre purchase
(10:56):
inspection then then probably wewill buy it and it's got a
little bit of rust. It looks like he can tell a few
stories. It's been around the block.
It's certainly got more than 300,000 kilometres.
But you're opting ultimately forthe more expensive version that
has the self-contained thing because of the idea of it.
And because it's more roomy, it is obviously worse for the
(11:17):
environment and guzzles gas which is an issue.
But it has got 2 surfboards on the roof which I thought you'd
appreciate. It comes with the surfboards.
Comes with way too much stuff. I mean, there's no way we're
going to need all of the stuff it comes with, but it's included
in the price because the guy needs to leave the country
sharpish. I'm on board with the surfboard.
That's quite cool. Yeah, so make it down here.
We'll go and RIP a few waves or whatever you surface say.
(11:38):
Yeah, we say that. We say let's go and RIP some
gnarly pearls, baby. But yeah, exciting stuff.
I mean, you know me, I like a drive, I like living in a van
and I like driving around New Zealand.
So it's a win, win, win. Stay tuned.
Listeners will hear all about Adam's driving, surfing,
defecating, mixture rating, van life adventures in subsequent
(12:00):
Weeks of Tribology podcast. Many of us go travelling to find
ourselves, but what does that really mean?
Yeah. A lot of us go travelling
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answers climbing up a mountain or snorkeling in a beautiful
reef, sometimes we need some help to even ask the right
questions. That's why we've teamed up with
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(12:23):
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(13:08):
and get 10% off your first monthof therapy.
We are absolutely nothing on this show if we're not a place,
a forum, a community in which everyone can discuss all of our
ideas, ask questions, help one another as we traverse this
great big beautiful marble of anearth.
And sometimes people go to topologypodcast.com, there's a
(13:31):
form on there, the Hostel commonRoom questionnaire, where they
can type in all sorts of questions that come to mind,
like oh, how do you clean your bag once it falls in a river, or
what kind of size bucket should I defecate in whilst I'm
travelling around New Zealand, that sort of thing.
One such listener wrote into thehostel common room recently with
ever such a good question and we're going to listen to it now
(13:53):
in the hostel common room. Hostel common room, How many
countries you've been to Mate? Yes mate, the hostel common
room. We do love to hear from you.
So get those emails in and this week we have got an e-mail from
our good friend Miles. Thanks very much for writing in
(14:14):
Mate. He he says.
Hello Alan and Adam, I have a couple of questions for you both
which you may relate to. It's been about 1 1/2 years
since I got back from backpacking South America and
I've thought about travel every day since I can imagine me.
I think you both can relate to feeling trapped in your home
country and being surrounded by people who have completely
different life goals than yourself.
(14:36):
Everyday I think about leaving and discovering adventure on the
road, pushing myself and connecting with others who want
the same. I think I need to save money for
another year before I'll have enough to take off for good.
Well good luck with that. I have a great low stress job
now that allows me to save a solid amount of money each
month. The longer I stay the more I can
extend my upcoming trip. But I'm going a little crazy
(14:58):
waiting. When do you make the call to
just say you've saved enough andjust go?
And do you have any tips or suggestions?
Suggestions for getting through long period of working to save
for travel? Couple of things I've discovered
that help me feel better. Researching and planning travel
in various areas around the world.
Listening to music that reminds me of my travels or a podcast
Wing wink. Going on smaller adventures in
(15:20):
my home country, usually trekking in the mountains.
Listening to Tripology. Of course, I you've rolled it in
at the end there. I why did I ever lose faith?
I'd love. Listening to music.
No, you're totally right, Miles.I'd love to hear your thoughts.
So Alan, mate, what do you thinkabout that?
(15:40):
Oh, Miles, what I mean, you've touched on perhaps the most
ubiquitous travel kind of dilemma problem blue period that
all of us go through. And that's like you've gone on
this great big adventure. You've changed irreparably,
irreversibly as a person. You've seen the all the
(16:01):
possibilities and then you've returned home out of necessity,
financial necessity, obligation,necessity, Lots of different
things can happen. And then you're hit with this
feeling and we've all gone through this.
There is not a single traveller who enjoyed travelling that this
didn't happen to. I'm sure there's a subcategory
of people that go home and they're like, oh, thank fucking
(16:22):
God. But for everyone else who
actually loves travel, we've allbeen through this experience and
it's a really, really challenging thing to get
through. And Miles has already hinted on
some of the things that I would normally recommend going on
adventures in your home country,trying to find the beauty in the
place that you do live. Like go mountaineering.
(16:43):
If you like climbing, go climbing.
If you like music, go play with some musicians.
All sorts of things that you cando.
But fundamentally, it's really tough.
Miles, my friend, because part of it is you start to feel
yourself getting dragged in to obligations and things that
(17:04):
force you further away from the life that you know that you
enjoyed most of all. This was the diamond upon
myself. And I was like, I've got it.
I understand that travel is the greatest, highest minded thing
that I love more than anything else.
And then as I was in the UK for a little bit, it was like, OK,
but you need to get some money, so let's prioritize getting some
money. OK, now you've got to get a
(17:26):
certain amount of lease to rent a place while you're doing that.
OK, obligation, obligation. How are you going to get around?
Maybe you get a car. OK, obligation.
Now you've got a car. OK, Now how long do I need to
save for? OK, let's say this amount of
time whenever I save it up, obligations.
Then in my case, there was a pandemic, so I was like, OK, now
you have to stay for the pandemic.
There's like things that happened that suck you into a
(17:48):
life and it starts to feel like travel becomes this distant,
unattainable thing and you're like, oh, this is how it
happens. This is how people go travelling
and they never go, never go travelling again.
Maybe you find someone who you deeply love and want to spend
time with. OK, now what do I do?
There's lots and lots of problems.
It's really, really difficult toget around.
You definitely don't want to be one of those people that says
(18:09):
yeah and then life got in the way or something like that.
But I think it's probably twofold.
I am actually quite binary aboutthis sort of stuff now.
I accepted a very long time ago that it was completely possible
to use countries using working holiday visas and that sort of
stuff. But equally, you can go back to
the UK or wherever, wherever you're from I suppose, and just
use it as a trampoline. You buckle down for a year or
(18:29):
two, earn a load of money, save,live a simple life, a modest
life, save that money, and then you can go off again.
And if you just do that on repeat, if that's what you
choose to do, that's totally a viable way to live.
And I do wish that that was communicated to the younger
generation. That's part of the reason why
we're doing this. That is absolutely an option for
you if you want to live that way.
But then the other side of this is, is trying to keep everything
(18:50):
at arm's length so that you don't make any commitments that
then stop you going away in the future.
And I don't think that there's any doubt that, you know, being
motivated or being excited. And I feel being interested
enough in whatever it is you're going to do, that's never going
to dampen or you're never going to lose interest in that way.
So just keep what you're doing in in keep doing what you're
doing in that sense. But I think it's just about
(19:13):
realizing the moment you're in, knowing fully that you are going
on to bigger things to this nextbig adventure.
And just try and get yourself inthe headspace that the day will
come sooner than you think. I promise you it will.
And the people that you should be around, the travel community,
the people like us, will be there to greet you when you
arrive. I think there's also a thing to
deeply understand, and it's not just about travel, it's about
(19:34):
life in general. It's that everything has an
order of priorities, and right now it sounds like travel is
very, very high on your priorities.
And if that is the case, you should do everything in your
power to make sure that you address it with the utmost
urgency. And then there will be a time as
you age and get older where travel potentially starts to de
(19:56):
prioritize in favour of other things.
Like this might be a time where you want to start a business or
start a family, or you might need to be there for loved ones.
There's lots of things that might overtake travel in the
hierarchy of your priority. And you should address those
with the same urgency that you should address travel.
Now. One of the most tragic things, I
(20:18):
think, are people who. Prioritize something deeply as a
value or something they would like to achieve, but then all
the things that sit underneath that thing in their hierarchical
prioritization ultimately get addressed first because they're
easier, quicker. They just like feel more
immediate, and they end up leaving the big things at the
(20:40):
top of their list that they knowthey're always going to get
round to. They end up just completely
overlooking them because they'rethat big major thing.
You don't want to do that. You don't want to do that with
anything. You don't want to do that with
the relationship with the family, with the loved ones,
with the money or with travel. So I think just have it in your
mind like know that travel is ultimately what you want right
(21:01):
now and and keep that as your guiding light, as your beacon.
It's very, very important to have a beacon as you move
through life. And if travel is yours, just
hold it there and know that it is that and the time will fly
by. Yeah, yeah, I saw a quote the
other day that somewhat appropriate to this situation,
maybe Mars is in particular. But the quote could could be
(21:22):
applied to many people in our position, I suppose.
And and it says this, we're unable to live the life of our
dreams because we're too busy living our fears.
And I think that's probably appropriate to to a lot of
people in sort of Western society that would love to be
doing the sort of stuff that we're talking about here.
Yeah, I mean, how many times have we heard like, oh, I'd love
(21:43):
to do what you guys do, but I'vejust got to get ABCD and E
sorted and then later on I'll dothe travel again.
And I think it is really what you want.
Now is the the time. I also think you need probably
less than you think you do. I see a lot of people get held
up thinking like, oh, when I getthis unattainable amount of
(22:04):
money, then I can go travelling in the way that I want.
I've always been an advocate of like just get what you can get
realistically in a finite periodof time.
Set the time rather than the amount and say that I've got six
months to really work hard and whatever I have there, I'm going
to go travelling with it. I think that's better than
saying like, Oh well, I want to be travelling for this length of
time and doing all the travel for this length of time with
(22:25):
this budget. I need 10,000 U.S. dollars and
this is like no no just save as hard as you can for the period
of time you have and then use that money to to travel.
That's what you should do. Yes, keep watching your YouTube
videos, keep listening to Tripology, keep on saving, stay
motivated. I know you will mate.
Go out there and get it. Thanks ever so much for writing
In Mars. We really appreciate it mate.
(22:46):
Love you lots brother. Let yours know how you get on.
But right now we've got another listener that needs some
attention. They've gone to
tripologypodcast.com/tales of a Trip and they've sent in their
greatest travel Story 3 minutes,where they describe, oh, the
most beautiful, wondrous, effervescent, adventurous moment
of their travelling career. They want to tell us all about
it. Let's listen to a listener right
(23:07):
now. So my travel story starts at
about 19 years of age. Me and the boys went to Thailand
to see what it had in store for us and we did find Carson Rd.
Eventually tried a couple balloons, got very intoxicated
(23:31):
and decided to go watch a ping pong show.
At the ping pong show, this older gentleman invited us to
come with him to see something even better than that and we
were kind of in the mood for that and decided to follow him.
Eventually my two friends kind of felt like it wasn't a good
(23:52):
idea. I don't know why I continued to
follow this guy and we turned the corner and this guy has this
Tokyo drift style whip Japanese supercar lower to the floor.
I don't know why I got in but after about 10 minutes of drive
(24:12):
and I repeat, this is me alone. At this point I start getting
nervous and I'm like where are we going?
And he just doesn't want to answer.
And another 10 minutes passed and Bangkok's downtown lights
start disappearing in the rear view mirror and I start getting
really concerned until we eventually pull up to a hotel
(24:35):
and this guy invites me in. I follow him and I feel really
uncomfortable at this point. Not surprised at all to find
that we are in. It's not a strip club, it's just
really a bordell. And yeah, there's about 30
(24:57):
women. My 19 year old precious soul
does not comprehend this. But they're all numbered and I
get to choose one and I don't know how to get out of the
situation really. So I come up with a brilliant
idea. I just tell this guy that
they're all ugly and that I don't like a single one of them.
He doesn't take it badly, thankful thankfully, but he does
(25:21):
suggest to go to a different place and I don't really have a
choice at this point because I'mgetting escorted out by two
security guards back to his car.We get in, drive another 5 to 10
minutes which feels like an eternity, and pull up to this
Soviet style unlit block. Maybe an old hotel.
There was certainly like a construction side situation.
(25:44):
It's at night so it's dark, I can't see it.
We go down in the garage and I think I'm dying at this point
but turns out it's just a more luxurious place.
And yeah, eventually they make me pay 300 USD.
I decide that it's very sketchy and I don't feel comfortable in
(26:05):
that leaf, but scary story for sure.
Wow. OK, my friend, I empathize with
the feeling. That horrible sense of dread
that comes when you're hurtling somewhere with someone and you
think, how the heck did I make several decisions have led to
(26:27):
this eventuality? How has it happened that now
through a series of seemingly inoffensive like, yeah, sure,
OK, nice. I'm now, like, leaving the city,
leaving my friends, and I'm in this potentially really, really
dangerous situation. Yeah.
As a feeling of impending dread,isn't it Adam?
Yeah, because you either know this is going to hurt, IE I'm
(26:51):
potentially going to get beaten up here, or it's going to be
very expensive, or both. So I don't know if this is like
an inner feeling that we might have.
It's that a gut instinct where you think, even though I know I
shouldn't do this, it's going tobe an amazing story.
Am I going to get out of this Scott free?
Because do you know what it does?
It reminds me of a story. I would definitely have ended up
(27:13):
doing something like that, especially when I was 19.
There's just no way that I wouldn't have done exactly what
he did. But there was a time when I was
in Russia when I got invited to a strip club by two Russian
police officers who said that they would pay for everything.
Yeah, I remember this. Yeah.
And every bone in my body was saying don't do it.
But I thought to myself, you're only a few weeks into your trip
(27:35):
and you said to yourself that you were going to say yes to
everything. And now you're already saying
no. It probably would have been
fine. But if it hadn't, you know, I
would have had to maybe tell my mum what went on there.
And if you haven't, if you haven't really got an answer for
that, you know, if she's going well, how did you end up in that
situation? Oh, we got in his Japanese
(27:55):
supercar and he drove us. It wasn't even the first
building we went to. All right, OK.
So often the the good travellersmentality of say yes to
everything. Now I think you're better at
this than me in some ways. I think that you a very, very
good embracing the moments when to say yes.
(28:16):
I'll give an example. When we were in Pakistan and
that van driver said to us, oh, you've missed the bus, come and
stay with me and my family at myhouse.
If I had been on my own, I wouldabsolutely, categorically, I'm
telling you now, it would have been an impossibility that I
would say yes to that. Right.
Wow. I just would flat out refuse.
(28:38):
Now, that's absolutely kept me away from some positive
experience whilst I've travelledsolar.
Absolutely, irrefutably, undeniably, I accept it.
I acknowledge it. I've also been in some dangerous
situations whilst I've been travelling.
I understand the reality of the world.
I understand that difficult situations can arise and when
they do arise, they arise very, very quickly.
(29:02):
I I will always exercise cautionwhilst I'm travelling.
So I likely wouldn't have got into that car and been in that
difficult situation that the listener was in.
You would have, but I think you also have vastly positive
interactions that I often miss out on.
Yeah, I also like ping pong morethan you do.
Yeah. I mean, if you don't know what
(29:23):
ping pong show is in Thailand, it's not for us to tell you to
look it up. And I advise probably that you
don't. But you know, it's no surprise,
those stories, I mean that they do happen and they do happen in
places like Bangkok and they canbe a bit of fun.
They can be light hearted. But 300 U.S. dollars, I mean,
that's a bit of a sting in the tail, isn't it?
Is. But it's not the worst.
(29:44):
I mean, take $300 in your healthand your safety.
The lesson of that story is justlaugh.
It's only $300 in five years time.
You don't miss $300, but you do learn the lesson.
There's like, oh, that was actually a real upheaval.
Like I ended up in a brothel with a stranger forking out
money. Did you, do you think that
there's another side to this, that maybe if that story just
(30:06):
played out And, and you know, I think things, the things that
happened in brothels happened. I mean, what's, what's the
$300.00 for in this story? Is it to just try and get out of
there Scott free? Don't beat me up.
And they would have asked for $300 irrespective of what went
on. That was the impression I got
from the from the message, yeah.Yeah.
OK. So as soon as you get in the
(30:27):
car, it's costing you $300 no matter what happens.
I think so, yeah. And I don't know whether that
was sort of the plan and the assistance of the person that
was there or whether that was just the situation that once you
got to that brothel, the way that this listener saw out of
the situation was just to hand over the money, maybe pretended
to the gentleman he was with with like, oh, I'm going off
here and then just made his way home.
(30:48):
I'm not sure. But I think if if spending money
can make you feel safe and just get you out of a situation, then
better to do that. Yeah, no, I think you're right.
And maybe let this be the take away.
I've got a few friends and people I've met travelling who
have been beaten up or mugged oror whatever in Thailand and it
(31:09):
usually involves them getting into a car with a stranger.
Yeah, right. So this question for you, if I
hadn't been there in Pakistan, you would have had no hesitation
to go to that driver's house andjust have dinner with his family
and all that stuff. It wouldn't have occurred to you
that I might not be safe. It would have done differently.
It's not like it wouldn't have occurred to me that there I
(31:30):
could have been putting myself at risk, but I I'm pretty sure I
still would have gone. I mean, he was absolutely lovely
and it was an amazing experience.
You've not heard that episode. They were the kindest, most
lovely people and there was no reason to suspect it might have
been dangerous. But it's just one of those
scenarios where. Apart from the AK47.
Well, yeah, there was a lot of AK around, right?
(31:50):
But it's one of those situationswhere if you met someone 15
minutes ago and then you've committed to staying at their
house in a place that you have no idea of the geography, you've
just arrived there at night, you're obligated to stay there
until the bus comes the next day.
You don't know anything about anything.
Like you're at a risk. You're at risk just by
(32:11):
definition of the situation you're in.
Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think you've got
to, you've got to learn when to put your trust in people.
And probably more than 9 times out of 10 it works.
It works very well, I think. But generally, people are
awesome. Oh, I mean, it's maybe 999 times
out of 1000, but it's the problem is that the one time,
(32:33):
like if that person had said, oh, you guys aren't leaving
here, there's nothing that we can do.
No. OK, Well, let me ask you this
question in return. Do you think that the feeling
that this listener was feeling, the gut instinct feeling of
getting in the car and wonderingwhere they were going on the
outskirts of Bangkok, do you think that's the same feeling,
(32:55):
visceral feeling as you felt when the the driver said to us,
why don't you come back to mine?If you need to, you can stay
with my family. No, because I didn't even have
that feeling because I've developed over a decade of
travel, a sense of caution that prevents me from getting in
situations where that feeling has to arise.
I felt comfortable in that situation because you were
(33:15):
there. And that's not because I think
like Adam can defend us. If there's any issue, it's just
because, OK, we can pass out together and communicate whether
we feel comfortable and safe. And I know that I'm making an
objective decision based on reality because I'm speaking to
my best friend whose opinion I respect.
There's also times, remember when those two people tried to
pick us up and you said, I don'treally have a good feeling about
(33:37):
this. And I said immediately, if you
don't have a good feeling, we'renot getting in the car.
Because I think you've got to trust each other's instincts in
situations like that. And just two instincts are
better than one instincts. And I just, I've learned over
the years to trust my instincts.Yeah, it's a vital part of
travelling. Maybe some people are naturally
better than others, but certainly something you kind of
(34:00):
get. But the thing I'm a little bit
worried about mate, just while we're we're spit balling here is
maybe I'm more risk averse now I'm getting older and maybe I'm
also less likely to be in those situations or have opportunities
like that as as time goes by. So yeah, I mean the whole time
you do have those opportunities listeners get stuck in, but make
(34:22):
sure it's not when you get that girl feeling like something's
about to go wrong. But but it's a, it's a feeling
out process though, isn't it? As well?
Like you can never begrudge a 19year old in Thailand having a
good time being offered the opportunity to get in a supercar
and drive off on an adventure like that.
We've all done stuff like that that had the potential to be
(34:42):
dangerous. And it turns out he wasn't
really in danger in the end. He got out of it right.
So I think there's there's a multi faceted approach that you
have to incorporate into your life when it comes to.
This Yeah, Yeah, I agree. I mean, we've told a number of
the stories on this show about when that's happened to us and
and maybe left some some others out of the broadcast but made
(35:04):
their way into the Patreon section.
So, yeah, really. Thanks so much for for recording
the voice message. It's a wicked story and yeah, I
can't wait to hear more from youguys.
Keep them coming in. Yep.
And if you want to send us a message just like that listener,
you just go to topologypodcast.com/tales of a
trip. But Speaking of Tales and Trip
and sending in messages, we've got a couple of crazy messages
(35:26):
that will go after to the episode in a section we like to
call the Lost and Found. We've got bonus tails.
For example, I'm going to talk about trying to catch this mouse
that's creeping around my house.So if you want to hear that, all
you've got to do is go to patreon.com/tropology Podcast.
We'll see you there. Bye bye.
Hello and welcome to this episode of It's the only
backpacking show where the hostsget on a plane fly about the
World Travel. I'm Alan and I'm here with one
of the greatest travels of all time and my best friend.
It's the ever mobile Adam. We've got a wicked one in store
for you today mate. I'm excited to be back.
(00:24):
I'm going to tell you what I've been up to, some very
interesting, very exciting and very expensive plans ahead.
And then we're going to hear from a listener in the second
section of the show with a hostel common room.
And then of course, Tales of a Trip where we hear a recording
from one of you lovely guys. Double listener LED content, I
love it. All that stuff going on at
apologypodcast.com. Very interesting indeed.
(00:46):
Adam, how are you mate? You're looking every bit the
same age as last time I saw you.How has it been going on?
You wait till next week where I have a shave.
Jesus Christ, I wish I could grab a beard.
I can't grab a beard. Do you think at the age of 36 I
may be past it and I've got to just forget about that and do
deal with what I've got? Well, a lot of the evidence that
(01:07):
I've seen suggests that as soon as your beard gets to about the
length that it is now, you shaveit off.
So if you maybe stop running a sharp blade across your face,
you might have more success. Yeah, yeah, no, but you haven't
got any tips. I mean Someone Like You who's
got a full a full chin of beard.Yeah, I simply don't shave it.
That is my tip. Between between the beard tips
(01:30):
and the toenail infection cutting tips if you don't TuneIn
for other of those. I mean, I don't, frankly, I
don't know why you're listening.Yeah, but there is a point where
you'll notice if you refrain from shaving, you will
eventually grow a beard. Patchy or otherwise.
Yeah, this week mate. I've been bloody busy.
I have been looking and I'm on the verge of buying a van.
(01:55):
Wow, is it a Honda Odyssey? The the most famous van used for
vanning in New Zealand. No, but it has got an equally
cool, cool name. It's called the Mazda Bongo A.
Mazda Bongo. OK The Odyssey.
An amazing word that brings to mind venture and travel and
(02:16):
going across the high seas. The bongo, of course.
One of the funniest drums. Yeah, I mean it looks like a a
small little camper van and we're looking at one at the
minute, hopefully taking it for an inspection this week just to
make sure there's nothing weird and wonderful going on.
(02:36):
It is a lot of money of course, but that might mean that in the
future, in the near future and also in the mid future that we
can go out on very long trips and live the van life.
Because I think if there's ever a country where it should be
travelled that way, it's probably New Zealand, isn't it?
Yeah, a lot of the backpackers in New Zealand of course, buy a
cheap van, put a mattress in theback of it, get in that van.
(02:58):
You can wild camp all over the country.
It's very, very easy. This is often done and do know a
couple of people who've had their vans robbed whilst they're
in New Zealand, so that's something to be aware of.
Not by Kiwis I'm sure, I think not by sheep.
And that that's basically 90% ofthe people on the South Island.
So. Yeah, so you've got 10% chance
of having a van robbed is what you're saying?
(03:19):
That's actually pretty high, no?So I have got a little travel
conundrum to ask you about, and I try not to get too sort of
philosophical or abstract, but it is so much more expensive to
buy a van. And I don't know if you know the
difference between a van that's self-contained and one that
isn't. But basically there's rules in
place, you know, the sort of reserves and local councils and
(03:43):
parks, national parks and all these sort of governing bodies
that try to keep New Zealand squeaky clean, which we
appreciate. It's a good thing overall.
What it means is that if your van is not self-contained, IE
you don't have a certain amount of water capacity in there in
the form of bottles for each individual people, you can't
manage your waste well. I think it's got to be like for
three days and 24 litres per person and all this sort of
(04:06):
stuff. You have to have toilets that
are housed inside your van. It it's, it basically means that
you, you need to be able to go to the toilet and manage your
waste for three days in order tobe classed as self-contained,
something along those lines. Otherwise, you're not able to
freedom camp and you can get fines of up to sort of $800 if
you get caught by Park Rangers. Right.
(04:26):
Well, that's interesting becausepeople of course have very, very
different schedules when it comes to waste production.
Yeah, I don't think that's the main concern, but I get what
you're saying. I would like to be monitored for
three days, see what it is that I produce on average, and then
judge me based on that information going forward.
(04:48):
Well you're amazing Sir. You've not shit in three days so
you actually don't need to have a bucket on board.
You're still self-contained. These things are, they are of
course expensive, but what it also means is there's this
massive gulf between vans that have just been converted and
you've got sort of a very basic bed in the bag.
And then vans that have been converted and they're slightly
more elaborate and they've got atoilet on board and they've been
(05:10):
given the green or blue stamp asbeing self-contained, but
they're like sometimes twice as expensive.
Now I do understand the benefit of being self-contained because
it means you can freedom camp insome designated areas.
You don't necessarily need to goand pay for a campsite.
Of course that it doesn't make it sort of redundant having a
camper van if you sleep in a a campsite, but it does obviously
(05:30):
restrain you somewhat, restrict you somewhat.
However, the price difference isso massive, I'm looking at this
as is it the dream that I'm chasing and therefore having to
fork out extra money? Or should I go for the sensible
option which is of course the converted car, which is in some
cases half the price and you canstill get them self-contained
(05:52):
and they might be 567-8000 depending on the condition.
The vans you're talking like 12/14/17 in some cases.
But the the romantic idea I had in my head of travelling New
Zealand, it was in a van, it wasn't in a car.
Yeah, I mean I have done the whole van life thing once before
in Canada. I got a a car.
(06:15):
Oh, Chica, Chica was her name. Took all the seats out the back,
put some blankets down, sort of makeshift mattress.
I actually put some like CrossFit mats down as blankets
on top of that and sleeping bag in there and had a little space
here that didn't work and and a few little things.
And I used to go out there quiteoften to the National Park,
(06:35):
sleep under the stars, open the doors, just chill.
And the longest I ever spent in there continuously was seven
days. Long enough I.
Can have. I have to tell you on no
occasion during that seven days that I think I wish I could piss
and shit aboard the car. Well, if you only go once every
(06:56):
three or four days, so you'd only had to tackle that problem
once, so. No, contrary to mythology, I go
to the toilet like an ordinary person.
But at no point did I think you know what really enhance this
Canadian road trip? The ability to defecate and
mixture 8 without ever leaving the comfort of my vehicle.
So I would say yes, you're chasing.
(07:18):
You're chasing an illusion, a dream. 2 words self-contained,
attached by a sexy little hyphenthat make you feel on top of the
world. But in actual fact, you don't
need it mate. Just get a nice cheap runner
that you can sleep inside and goto a cafe.
You are, you do. You do touch on a good point
because the guy that might be selling us the van, when he was
(07:40):
showing us the toilet and the waste management system, we
asked him oh how often to use the toilet.
He was like never. Literally never.
I've never used it, and no one who has a self-contained van
with a toilet on board ever usesit.
So it's just for the legislationthat so that you can park
anywhere. And it means that you do have
the ability to manage your wasteon board, I suppose.
So there are genuine reasons. But the only reason you wanted
(08:01):
that is so that you can freedom camp, right?
It's just so that you don't get stopped by the.
Yeah, because there are designated areas.
It's just many, many areas across New Zealand where you can
freedom camp and it just makes it much more easy.
You can pull up by the side of the road in some places, some
small towns, and just park your car and you're allowed to stay
there because if they catch you sleeping in your car and you're
not self-contained, they will whack a fine on your bonnet.
(08:22):
Why? Not just get get the cheapest
version and then get 23 litres or whatever it is worth of
bucket and put it in the backseat.
I don't know if they have to be special.
I don't know enough about it really.
And if he says, Sir, that doesn't look like a very
comfortable toilet, you say, wait there, I've got a little
performance to show you because it actually is a.
Comfortable toilet if you knew some of the places I've done a
(08:45):
shit officer. You'd be surprised.
A little bit of eye contact whilst doing a demonstration of
your toilet and the cops go running.
It'll be me who's charging you $800 to see this.
But no, mate, I, I do think it'san interesting point in that,
you know, please e-mail in if you've got something to share,
(09:06):
topologypodcast@gmail.com. Because sometimes we have this
idea in our head of we want whatwe want a trip to be.
And for me, driving around New Zealand in a van seems so much
more romantic is what I kind of thought about over the last 10
years. The way that I would travel this
beautiful country was in a camper van living the van life.
If that then all of a sudden is reduced to driving around in a
converted car, that's a bit uglyand probably too small.
(09:29):
I don't know if I'll be regretting that.
See, I've never had this fixation.
I've never had this fantasy. Like I come across it all the
time, particularly in the music world.
I think people are really guiltyfor this where people are like
oh but my dream instrument is a as a guitar crafted in the in
the USA of all the steeps in thehistory.
(09:50):
It uses a special glue and all that.
I think it's so much cooler to have an absolute beater that you
find in a charity shop with bitschipped off it that you just get
and like make it your own with what you play on it.
Same with the car I think is waycooler to get the fucking thing
that's all broken and rusty and you made it work and you like
had it and created an affinity with it and had this adventure
(10:12):
with it. Then getting the spic and span
thing where like oh, you can actually drink your own way.
Once it's gone through our special filtration system, it's
ever so comfortable. Fuck that car, man.
That's for posh people, rich people, people who want comfort.
That's not us. I reckon.
Just get the rusty old bag. Forget the romanticization of
it, just make it work. No no, I mean the van is one of
(10:34):
these and up bashed up storytelling.
Doesn't sound like it mate, sounds like an absolute shit
mobile. Anyway, stay tuned because we're
going to have it sent into into a garage for an inspection and
they check all the gobbins, all the engine, and all the other
stuff that mechanics talk about.Oh, you've already bought it?
No, I haven't bought it, but if it passes it's pre purchase
(10:56):
inspection then then probably wewill buy it and it's got a
little bit of rust. It looks like he can tell a few
stories. It's been around the block.
It's certainly got more than 300,000 kilometres.
But you're opting ultimately forthe more expensive version that
has the self-contained thing because of the idea of it.
And because it's more roomy, it is obviously worse for the
(11:17):
environment and guzzles gas which is an issue.
But it has got 2 surfboards on the roof which I thought you'd
appreciate. It comes with the surfboards.
Comes with way too much stuff. I mean, there's no way we're
going to need all of the stuff it comes with, but it's included
in the price because the guy needs to leave the country
sharpish. I'm on board with the surfboard.
That's quite cool. Yeah, so make it down here.
We'll go and RIP a few waves or whatever you surface say.
(11:38):
Yeah, we say that. We say let's go and RIP some
gnarly pearls, baby. But yeah, exciting stuff.
I mean, you know me, I like a drive, I like living in a van
and I like driving around New Zealand.
So it's a win, win, win. Stay tuned.
Listeners will hear all about Adam's driving, surfing,
defecating, mixture rating, van life adventures in subsequent
(12:00):
Weeks of Tribology podcast. Many of us go travelling to find
ourselves, but what does that really mean?
Yeah. A lot of us go travelling
searching for meaning, and whileyou certainly can find some
answers climbing up a mountain or snorkeling in a beautiful
reef, sometimes we need some help to even ask the right
questions. That's why we've teamed up with
Better Help in a paid partnership that offers you the
(12:23):
chance to try therapy. You know what it's like, Alan?
Moving countries, time zones, jumping around from hostile to
hostile, having no schedule. These are reasons travellers
often rule out therapy. I've been using the service for
six months and I've travelled a lot during that time.
Organising therapy sessions using the online platform
couldn't be easier. I've been working with my
therapist on some deep rooted issues and I'm now in a much
happier place. Yeah, starting therapy with
(12:45):
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with a therapist that's right for you.
With thousands of positive reviews, US included, Betterhelp
is a platform you can trust. Click the link in the
description or go to betterhelp.com/tribology Podcast
(13:08):
and get 10% off your first monthof therapy.
We are absolutely nothing on this show if we're not a place,
a forum, a community in which everyone can discuss all of our
ideas, ask questions, help one another as we traverse this
great big beautiful marble of anearth.
And sometimes people go to topologypodcast.com, there's a
(13:31):
form on there, the Hostel commonRoom questionnaire, where they
can type in all sorts of questions that come to mind,
like oh, how do you clean your bag once it falls in a river, or
what kind of size bucket should I defecate in whilst I'm
travelling around New Zealand, that sort of thing.
One such listener wrote into thehostel common room recently with
ever such a good question and we're going to listen to it now
(13:53):
in the hostel common room. Hostel common room, How many
countries you've been to Mate? Yes mate, the hostel common
room. We do love to hear from you.
So get those emails in and this week we have got an e-mail from
our good friend Miles. Thanks very much for writing in
(14:14):
Mate. He he says.
Hello Alan and Adam, I have a couple of questions for you both
which you may relate to. It's been about 1 1/2 years
since I got back from backpacking South America and
I've thought about travel every day since I can imagine me.
I think you both can relate to feeling trapped in your home
country and being surrounded by people who have completely
different life goals than yourself.
(14:36):
Everyday I think about leaving and discovering adventure on the
road, pushing myself and connecting with others who want
the same. I think I need to save money for
another year before I'll have enough to take off for good.
Well good luck with that. I have a great low stress job
now that allows me to save a solid amount of money each
month. The longer I stay the more I can
extend my upcoming trip. But I'm going a little crazy
(14:58):
waiting. When do you make the call to
just say you've saved enough andjust go?
And do you have any tips or suggestions?
Suggestions for getting through long period of working to save
for travel? Couple of things I've discovered
that help me feel better. Researching and planning travel
in various areas around the world.
Listening to music that reminds me of my travels or a podcast
Wing wink. Going on smaller adventures in
(15:20):
my home country, usually trekking in the mountains.
Listening to Tripology. Of course, I you've rolled it in
at the end there. I why did I ever lose faith?
I'd love. Listening to music.
No, you're totally right, Miles.I'd love to hear your thoughts.
So Alan, mate, what do you thinkabout that?
(15:40):
Oh, Miles, what I mean, you've touched on perhaps the most
ubiquitous travel kind of dilemma problem blue period that
all of us go through. And that's like you've gone on
this great big adventure. You've changed irreparably,
irreversibly as a person. You've seen the all the
(16:01):
possibilities and then you've returned home out of necessity,
financial necessity, obligation,necessity, Lots of different
things can happen. And then you're hit with this
feeling and we've all gone through this.
There is not a single traveller who enjoyed travelling that this
didn't happen to. I'm sure there's a subcategory
of people that go home and they're like, oh, thank fucking
(16:22):
God. But for everyone else who
actually loves travel, we've allbeen through this experience and
it's a really, really challenging thing to get
through. And Miles has already hinted on
some of the things that I would normally recommend going on
adventures in your home country,trying to find the beauty in the
place that you do live. Like go mountaineering.
(16:43):
If you like climbing, go climbing.
If you like music, go play with some musicians.
All sorts of things that you cando.
But fundamentally, it's really tough.
Miles, my friend, because part of it is you start to feel
yourself getting dragged in to obligations and things that
(17:04):
force you further away from the life that you know that you
enjoyed most of all. This was the diamond upon
myself. And I was like, I've got it.
I understand that travel is the greatest, highest minded thing
that I love more than anything else.
And then as I was in the UK for a little bit, it was like, OK,
but you need to get some money, so let's prioritize getting some
money. OK, now you've got to get a
(17:26):
certain amount of lease to rent a place while you're doing that.
OK, obligation, obligation. How are you going to get around?
Maybe you get a car. OK, obligation.
Now you've got a car. OK, Now how long do I need to
save for? OK, let's say this amount of
time whenever I save it up, obligations.
Then in my case, there was a pandemic, so I was like, OK, now
you have to stay for the pandemic.
There's like things that happened that suck you into a
(17:48):
life and it starts to feel like travel becomes this distant,
unattainable thing and you're like, oh, this is how it
happens. This is how people go travelling
and they never go, never go travelling again.
Maybe you find someone who you deeply love and want to spend
time with. OK, now what do I do?
There's lots and lots of problems.
It's really, really difficult toget around.
You definitely don't want to be one of those people that says
(18:09):
yeah and then life got in the way or something like that.
But I think it's probably twofold.
I am actually quite binary aboutthis sort of stuff now.
I accepted a very long time ago that it was completely possible
to use countries using working holiday visas and that sort of
stuff. But equally, you can go back to
the UK or wherever, wherever you're from I suppose, and just
use it as a trampoline. You buckle down for a year or
(18:29):
two, earn a load of money, save,live a simple life, a modest
life, save that money, and then you can go off again.
And if you just do that on repeat, if that's what you
choose to do, that's totally a viable way to live.
And I do wish that that was communicated to the younger
generation. That's part of the reason why
we're doing this. That is absolutely an option for
you if you want to live that way.
But then the other side of this is, is trying to keep everything
(18:50):
at arm's length so that you don't make any commitments that
then stop you going away in the future.
And I don't think that there's any doubt that, you know, being
motivated or being excited. And I feel being interested
enough in whatever it is you're going to do, that's never going
to dampen or you're never going to lose interest in that way.
So just keep what you're doing in in keep doing what you're
doing in that sense. But I think it's just about
(19:13):
realizing the moment you're in, knowing fully that you are going
on to bigger things to this nextbig adventure.
And just try and get yourself inthe headspace that the day will
come sooner than you think. I promise you it will.
And the people that you should be around, the travel community,
the people like us, will be there to greet you when you
arrive. I think there's also a thing to
deeply understand, and it's not just about travel, it's about
(19:34):
life in general. It's that everything has an
order of priorities, and right now it sounds like travel is
very, very high on your priorities.
And if that is the case, you should do everything in your
power to make sure that you address it with the utmost
urgency. And then there will be a time as
you age and get older where travel potentially starts to de
(19:56):
prioritize in favour of other things.
Like this might be a time where you want to start a business or
start a family, or you might need to be there for loved ones.
There's lots of things that might overtake travel in the
hierarchy of your priority. And you should address those
with the same urgency that you should address travel.
Now. One of the most tragic things, I
(20:18):
think, are people who. Prioritize something deeply as a
value or something they would like to achieve, but then all
the things that sit underneath that thing in their hierarchical
prioritization ultimately get addressed first because they're
easier, quicker. They just like feel more
immediate, and they end up leaving the big things at the
(20:40):
top of their list that they knowthey're always going to get
round to. They end up just completely
overlooking them because they'rethat big major thing.
You don't want to do that. You don't want to do that with
anything. You don't want to do that with
the relationship with the family, with the loved ones,
with the money or with travel. So I think just have it in your
mind like know that travel is ultimately what you want right
(21:01):
now and and keep that as your guiding light, as your beacon.
It's very, very important to have a beacon as you move
through life. And if travel is yours, just
hold it there and know that it is that and the time will fly
by. Yeah, yeah, I saw a quote the
other day that somewhat appropriate to this situation,
maybe Mars is in particular. But the quote could could be
(21:22):
applied to many people in our position, I suppose.
And and it says this, we're unable to live the life of our
dreams because we're too busy living our fears.
And I think that's probably appropriate to to a lot of
people in sort of Western society that would love to be
doing the sort of stuff that we're talking about here.
Yeah, I mean, how many times have we heard like, oh, I'd love
(21:43):
to do what you guys do, but I'vejust got to get ABCD and E
sorted and then later on I'll dothe travel again.
And I think it is really what you want.
Now is the the time. I also think you need probably
less than you think you do. I see a lot of people get held
up thinking like, oh, when I getthis unattainable amount of
(22:04):
money, then I can go travelling in the way that I want.
I've always been an advocate of like just get what you can get
realistically in a finite periodof time.
Set the time rather than the amount and say that I've got six
months to really work hard and whatever I have there, I'm going
to go travelling with it. I think that's better than
saying like, Oh well, I want to be travelling for this length of
time and doing all the travel for this length of time with
(22:25):
this budget. I need 10,000 U.S. dollars and
this is like no no just save as hard as you can for the period
of time you have and then use that money to to travel.
That's what you should do. Yes, keep watching your YouTube
videos, keep listening to Tripology, keep on saving, stay
motivated. I know you will mate.
Go out there and get it. Thanks ever so much for writing
In Mars. We really appreciate it mate.
(22:46):
Love you lots brother. Let yours know how you get on.
But right now we've got another listener that needs some
attention. They've gone to
tripologypodcast.com/tales of a Trip and they've sent in their
greatest travel Story 3 minutes,where they describe, oh, the
most beautiful, wondrous, effervescent, adventurous moment
of their travelling career. They want to tell us all about
it. Let's listen to a listener right
(23:07):
now. So my travel story starts at
about 19 years of age. Me and the boys went to Thailand
to see what it had in store for us and we did find Carson Rd.
Eventually tried a couple balloons, got very intoxicated
(23:31):
and decided to go watch a ping pong show.
At the ping pong show, this older gentleman invited us to
come with him to see something even better than that and we
were kind of in the mood for that and decided to follow him.
Eventually my two friends kind of felt like it wasn't a good
(23:52):
idea. I don't know why I continued to
follow this guy and we turned the corner and this guy has this
Tokyo drift style whip Japanese supercar lower to the floor.
I don't know why I got in but after about 10 minutes of drive
(24:12):
and I repeat, this is me alone. At this point I start getting
nervous and I'm like where are we going?
And he just doesn't want to answer.
And another 10 minutes passed and Bangkok's downtown lights
start disappearing in the rear view mirror and I start getting
really concerned until we eventually pull up to a hotel
(24:35):
and this guy invites me in. I follow him and I feel really
uncomfortable at this point. Not surprised at all to find
that we are in. It's not a strip club, it's just
really a bordell. And yeah, there's about 30
(24:57):
women. My 19 year old precious soul
does not comprehend this. But they're all numbered and I
get to choose one and I don't know how to get out of the
situation really. So I come up with a brilliant
idea. I just tell this guy that
they're all ugly and that I don't like a single one of them.
He doesn't take it badly, thankful thankfully, but he does
(25:21):
suggest to go to a different place and I don't really have a
choice at this point because I'mgetting escorted out by two
security guards back to his car.We get in, drive another 5 to 10
minutes which feels like an eternity, and pull up to this
Soviet style unlit block. Maybe an old hotel.
There was certainly like a construction side situation.
(25:44):
It's at night so it's dark, I can't see it.
We go down in the garage and I think I'm dying at this point
but turns out it's just a more luxurious place.
And yeah, eventually they make me pay 300 USD.
I decide that it's very sketchy and I don't feel comfortable in
(26:05):
that leaf, but scary story for sure.
Wow. OK, my friend, I empathize with
the feeling. That horrible sense of dread
that comes when you're hurtling somewhere with someone and you
think, how the heck did I make several decisions have led to
(26:27):
this eventuality? How has it happened that now
through a series of seemingly inoffensive like, yeah, sure,
OK, nice. I'm now, like, leaving the city,
leaving my friends, and I'm in this potentially really, really
dangerous situation. Yeah.
As a feeling of impending dread,isn't it Adam?
Yeah, because you either know this is going to hurt, IE I'm
(26:51):
potentially going to get beaten up here, or it's going to be
very expensive, or both. So I don't know if this is like
an inner feeling that we might have.
It's that a gut instinct where you think, even though I know I
shouldn't do this, it's going tobe an amazing story.
Am I going to get out of this Scott free?
Because do you know what it does?
It reminds me of a story. I would definitely have ended up
(27:13):
doing something like that, especially when I was 19.
There's just no way that I wouldn't have done exactly what
he did. But there was a time when I was
in Russia when I got invited to a strip club by two Russian
police officers who said that they would pay for everything.
Yeah, I remember this. Yeah.
And every bone in my body was saying don't do it.
But I thought to myself, you're only a few weeks into your trip
(27:35):
and you said to yourself that you were going to say yes to
everything. And now you're already saying
no. It probably would have been
fine. But if it hadn't, you know, I
would have had to maybe tell my mum what went on there.
And if you haven't, if you haven't really got an answer for
that, you know, if she's going well, how did you end up in that
situation? Oh, we got in his Japanese
(27:55):
supercar and he drove us. It wasn't even the first
building we went to. All right, OK.
So often the the good travellersmentality of say yes to
everything. Now I think you're better at
this than me in some ways. I think that you a very, very
good embracing the moments when to say yes.
(28:16):
I'll give an example. When we were in Pakistan and
that van driver said to us, oh, you've missed the bus, come and
stay with me and my family at myhouse.
If I had been on my own, I wouldabsolutely, categorically, I'm
telling you now, it would have been an impossibility that I
would say yes to that. Right.
Wow. I just would flat out refuse.
(28:38):
Now, that's absolutely kept me away from some positive
experience whilst I've travelledsolar.
Absolutely, irrefutably, undeniably, I accept it.
I acknowledge it. I've also been in some dangerous
situations whilst I've been travelling.
I understand the reality of the world.
I understand that difficult situations can arise and when
they do arise, they arise very, very quickly.
(29:02):
I I will always exercise cautionwhilst I'm travelling.
So I likely wouldn't have got into that car and been in that
difficult situation that the listener was in.
You would have, but I think you also have vastly positive
interactions that I often miss out on.
Yeah, I also like ping pong morethan you do.
Yeah. I mean, if you don't know what
(29:23):
ping pong show is in Thailand, it's not for us to tell you to
look it up. And I advise probably that you
don't. But you know, it's no surprise,
those stories, I mean that they do happen and they do happen in
places like Bangkok and they canbe a bit of fun.
They can be light hearted. But 300 U.S. dollars, I mean,
that's a bit of a sting in the tail, isn't it?
Is. But it's not the worst.
(29:44):
I mean, take $300 in your healthand your safety.
The lesson of that story is justlaugh.
It's only $300 in five years time.
You don't miss $300, but you do learn the lesson.
There's like, oh, that was actually a real upheaval.
Like I ended up in a brothel with a stranger forking out
money. Did you, do you think that
there's another side to this, that maybe if that story just
(30:06):
played out And, and you know, I think things, the things that
happened in brothels happened. I mean, what's, what's the
$300.00 for in this story? Is it to just try and get out of
there Scott free? Don't beat me up.
And they would have asked for $300 irrespective of what went
on. That was the impression I got
from the from the message, yeah.Yeah.
OK. So as soon as you get in the
(30:27):
car, it's costing you $300 no matter what happens.
I think so, yeah. And I don't know whether that
was sort of the plan and the assistance of the person that
was there or whether that was just the situation that once you
got to that brothel, the way that this listener saw out of
the situation was just to hand over the money, maybe pretended
to the gentleman he was with with like, oh, I'm going off
here and then just made his way home.
(30:48):
I'm not sure. But I think if if spending money
can make you feel safe and just get you out of a situation, then
better to do that. Yeah, no, I think you're right.
And maybe let this be the take away.
I've got a few friends and people I've met travelling who
have been beaten up or mugged oror whatever in Thailand and it
(31:09):
usually involves them getting into a car with a stranger.
Yeah, right. So this question for you, if I
hadn't been there in Pakistan, you would have had no hesitation
to go to that driver's house andjust have dinner with his family
and all that stuff. It wouldn't have occurred to you
that I might not be safe. It would have done differently.
It's not like it wouldn't have occurred to me that there I
(31:30):
could have been putting myself at risk, but I I'm pretty sure I
still would have gone. I mean, he was absolutely lovely
and it was an amazing experience.
You've not heard that episode. They were the kindest, most
lovely people and there was no reason to suspect it might have
been dangerous. But it's just one of those
scenarios where. Apart from the AK47.
Well, yeah, there was a lot of AK around, right?
(31:50):
But it's one of those situationswhere if you met someone 15
minutes ago and then you've committed to staying at their
house in a place that you have no idea of the geography, you've
just arrived there at night, you're obligated to stay there
until the bus comes the next day.
You don't know anything about anything.
Like you're at a risk. You're at risk just by
(32:11):
definition of the situation you're in.
Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think you've got
to, you've got to learn when to put your trust in people.
And probably more than 9 times out of 10 it works.
It works very well, I think. But generally, people are
awesome. Oh, I mean, it's maybe 999 times
out of 1000, but it's the problem is that the one time,
(32:33):
like if that person had said, oh, you guys aren't leaving
here, there's nothing that we can do.
No. OK, Well, let me ask you this
question in return. Do you think that the feeling
that this listener was feeling, the gut instinct feeling of
getting in the car and wonderingwhere they were going on the
outskirts of Bangkok, do you think that's the same feeling,
(32:55):
visceral feeling as you felt when the the driver said to us,
why don't you come back to mine?If you need to, you can stay
with my family. No, because I didn't even have
that feeling because I've developed over a decade of
travel, a sense of caution that prevents me from getting in
situations where that feeling has to arise.
I felt comfortable in that situation because you were
(33:15):
there. And that's not because I think
like Adam can defend us. If there's any issue, it's just
because, OK, we can pass out together and communicate whether
we feel comfortable and safe. And I know that I'm making an
objective decision based on reality because I'm speaking to
my best friend whose opinion I respect.
There's also times, remember when those two people tried to
pick us up and you said, I don'treally have a good feeling about
(33:37):
this. And I said immediately, if you
don't have a good feeling, we'renot getting in the car.
Because I think you've got to trust each other's instincts in
situations like that. And just two instincts are
better than one instincts. And I just, I've learned over
the years to trust my instincts.Yeah, it's a vital part of
travelling. Maybe some people are naturally
better than others, but certainly something you kind of
(34:00):
get. But the thing I'm a little bit
worried about mate, just while we're we're spit balling here is
maybe I'm more risk averse now I'm getting older and maybe I'm
also less likely to be in those situations or have opportunities
like that as as time goes by. So yeah, I mean the whole time
you do have those opportunities listeners get stuck in, but make
(34:22):
sure it's not when you get that girl feeling like something's
about to go wrong. But but it's a, it's a feeling
out process though, isn't it? As well?
Like you can never begrudge a 19year old in Thailand having a
good time being offered the opportunity to get in a supercar
and drive off on an adventure like that.
We've all done stuff like that that had the potential to be
(34:42):
dangerous. And it turns out he wasn't
really in danger in the end. He got out of it right.
So I think there's there's a multi faceted approach that you
have to incorporate into your life when it comes to.
This Yeah, Yeah, I agree. I mean, we've told a number of
the stories on this show about when that's happened to us and
and maybe left some some others out of the broadcast but made
(35:04):
their way into the Patreon section.
So, yeah, really. Thanks so much for for recording
the voice message. It's a wicked story and yeah, I
can't wait to hear more from youguys.
Keep them coming in. Yep.
And if you want to send us a message just like that listener,
you just go to topologypodcast.com/tales of a
trip. But Speaking of Tales and Trip
and sending in messages, we've got a couple of crazy messages
(35:26):
that will go after to the episode in a section we like to
call the Lost and Found. We've got bonus tails.
For example, I'm going to talk about trying to catch this mouse
that's creeping around my house.So if you want to hear that, all
you've got to do is go to patreon.com/tropology Podcast.
We'll see you there. Bye bye.
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