July 19, 2025 • 29 mins
Is social media ruining travel? We explore whether overexposure to travel destinations is setting us up for disappointment, ensuring our travel expectations cannot be met.
In this episode of Tripology Podcast, we unpack how social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even travel blogs, impact how we experience travel —and how it might be making us less happy on the road.
We discuss the psychology behind the Instagram vs Reality meme and ask: is travel content killing spontaneity?
Hostel Common Room returns with a fantastic email from a listener, one which will resonate with many: does overplanning dull the experience?
Stay tuned for Tales of a Trip, as we hear a story from a listener who stayed with a Monastic community, only to discover she would be cooking mash potato for 500 people in one of France's largest commercial kitchens!
The topics we cover in this episode include:
- "The Golden Age of travel": Pre-2020 vs Backpacking in 2025
- How hostels & backpackers have changed
- The rise of the Digital Nomad and how digital nomads have impacted hostel culture
- Backpacker diets & hostel kitchens
- How expectations govern happiness, sharing some of our biggest backpacking let-downs.
We'd love to hear from you! Submit your own travel story to: https://tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
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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 Tripology.
It's the only podcast where the hosts get up early in the
morning in an Airbnb and switch the mics on.
I'm Alan and I'm here with one of the best backpackers in the
world, my best friend. It's the ever expectant Adam.
I'm expecting big things for this episode, mate.
We've got some hostile culture coming up.
(00:22):
We're going to discuss how things have changed in hostels
over the years. We've got an amazing, amazing
e-mail from a listener and then at the end, everyone's favorite
new item on the show. Is Tales of a Trip.
Yeah, tales of a trip, backpacking, stories from the
backpacking community. Oh, my goodness.
Can't wait for it. Yeah, man, I was talking to you
last night. We're holed up in this Airbnb
sharing a double bed to save money.
(00:45):
And we sort of said, you know what, our hostels changing
because we both started travelling around 2015, didn't
we, around that sort of time. 2014 for you 2016. 2014 December
the 16th, 2014. September 2015 for me.
Basically the same. I think that was slap bang in
the middle of the golden age of travelling.
(01:07):
Hear me out guys. You have mentioned this a few
times and I I mean, of course wewould all.
Love to believe that we. Travelled at the greatest time
to travel we may be caught the tail end of of what?
It is. You're about.
To talk about sure, I would haveloved to be travelling around
Iran in the 70s. But it just wasn't available to
me then because I wasn't alive. I think that it's easy to be
(01:28):
like, yeah, I was there when it was the best, you know?
But I do think the golden age oftravel started somewhere around
2010, OK, and ended with the pandemic.
Right. The reason I just just all.
Travel ended with the pandemic, so.
Exactly, and then when it re kind of convened and everyone's
like oh we can travel again, it wasn't quite the same.
It's still beautiful, still the most amazing thing in my life.
(01:51):
I love it. As if travel is listening in.
Please, I still adore you and people should definitely travel
now, you know, but I think that basically what happened was in
the 2010, it was the first sort of decade, the beginning of that
decade was the first time where you had Internet technology that
made travelling convenient easy.It was easy to research, it was
(02:15):
easy to book hostels, it was easy to find out information
where you were going, but it wasstill not the most popular
thing. It's still required a lot of
panache to go like I'm going to be a long term traveller.
Almost everyone doing long term travel had some kind of mental
illness. I know because I was one of
(02:37):
them. It was like in 2015 you'd get
people traveling kind of for sixmonths, all that stuff.
But the people you met who were like, I'm going for a year, you
were like, oh, fucking me too. What's wrong with you?
Yeah, anxiety and depression. Oh yeah, I'm running away from
something. Oh, perfect.
Nowadays that's just not the same because of increased
accessibility. Yeah, you definitely find a
(02:57):
different type of backpacker, I think, and it's easy.
For us to say. That it'd be really interesting
send your emails in send your messages in because we.
Would like to get. Your thoughts on this?
But I feel like over the 10-11 years that I've been travelling
and living in hostels, there's definitely a different type of
backpacker now. Not necessarily bad, you know,
we can't choose which era we're born in or anything like that.
But I also think that when we started out.
(03:20):
You had to proactively. Go and search maybe a bus or
something in terms of the infrastructure and logistics,
whereas now. It's you're absolutely peppered
at. Every single opportunity by
travel companies or local tour companies and they're, they're
all all offering a similar experience when we were back,
you know, back when we were travelling.
I would agree. I would say that there were lots
(03:41):
of people. That were older than me,
obviously because I was younger.But yeah, nowadays technology,
the way that it's changed things.
Certainly in hostels, when you're signing into hostels,
there's two hostels I want to talk about.
One of them is in in Auckland, Not going to mention it because
I know the guys there, they're great friends.
And the other ones in Seoul. In Auckland, I arrived at the
reception which closes at five, 5:00 PM for a reception on a
(04:01):
hostel. It's ridiculously early.
I hated it. I arrived there before 5 and
wanted to check in, but I was immediately shown some little
kiosk, some little robot type screen thing where you've got to
plug in all your details and allthat sort of stuff.
And the person behind the counter said we are trying to
train that machine. There's been some new software
uploaded and we just want to test it out.
(04:22):
So I can't check you into the desk.
Can you just check in with that machine?
And I was like, Oh my God, you know, 10 minutes later, the
thing didn't work and I was backto square one, having to check
in with a human. Now, I wouldn't necessarily mind
that. I understand there's a changing
times. But if you go to Seoul, Korea.
There's a place called. Something cube or something like
that. And the checking process is so
impersonal that it ends up creating these metaphoric
(04:42):
barriers within the hostel. It lacks a personal touch.
Yeah, I mean, you can't. You can't even meet a human even
if you wanted to, and that is a big issue for me because one of
the reasons we stay in hostels is to meet other people.
It is to have that lovely. Backpacking communal atmosphere,
but you get sent an e-mail with a checking code and then, then,
then you go through the door, you have one checking code for
the door, then you have another checking code for your locker.
(05:03):
And even though there's like a big communal space where
everyone has breakfast, no one talks.
To each other because of these. What will become literal
barriers between the dorms and the check in process?
And they just try and keep everyone as far away as they can
from each other. And I think that is that is a
negative. Well, let's talk about, let's
just like that a little bit further because what you're
talking about that sort of ease of accessibility.
(05:26):
Get in, get on your laptop, don't talk to anyone.
That is symptomatic of this era we're living in now, which is
the rise of the digital nomad. Preface that by saying I love
the fact that we're now living post pandemic in a world where
people don't feel that they haveto be constrained to the office.
They can get their laptops, theycan go to hostels.
(05:47):
I love that. I think it's great.
I would rather we lived in that world.
But it has to be said, it changes hostile culture.
We're now in this world where pre pandemic you had to be like
crazy to just go, I'm not going to get a job.
I'm going to travel. I'm going to be nomadic.
Now in the pandemic, everyone was like, oh God, is this the
(06:08):
future? We can't handle this.
We've got to leave everyone sortof like in a mass exodus.
It feels like, OK, now is the time to seize this opportunity
to seize my life. I'm going to go travelling.
And so you, you're kind of like the, the old school travellers
who are all like, hey, fuck the government.
They're also like, I mean, we'recrowded by, by these new wave
(06:30):
travellers, these digital nomads.
That's not necessarily in itselfa bad thing, but it does create
a very different situation in hostels when people's primary
directive is to work to check ineasily, not to like be social,
not to experience a place so much as just live and work out
of a hostel. Yeah, I wonder as well, maybe
what's compounding the issue? Is that because everywhere?
(06:53):
Where else has become so expensive now?
The people that maybe were staying in private accommodation
or. Hotels they can't afford.
That so the next step down is ofcourse staying in a hostel.
So now you're actually seeing people that probably.
Have a. Have a higher economy than they
would have done whereas. Before, you know, hostels were
just for us cheapos. Yeah, totally.
And then hostels react, don't they?
(07:13):
Because hostels get all these new clientele of richer people.
Who are working? Yeah.
Absolutely. So then it's like the hostels
start selling the experience of come here.
It's ever so social becomes the same price as the Airbnb
travellers like me and you are forced out of the hostels
because it's too pricey now and go to Airbnb.
It's a cyclical cycle. I think here anthropology, you
(07:34):
know, let's just encourage good hostel etiquette.
If you're staying in a hostel, Ithink to some extent you have an
obligation to do your work, finish your work, but do engage
in the social culture is really important to smile at people, to
like make conversation. You take your work, do it.
But I think social aspects are important.
(07:55):
Yeah, it's not about being gatekeepers or anything like
that. I mean, Can you imagine if we
exist in a time in the future where in order to go to a
certain country? Or a certain hostel you will
have had to prove that you've. Been to so many other countries
before. Or something crazy to stop you
in future like that. I do.
Think that there are some thingsthat are happening in hostels
nowadays that maybe weren't 1015years.
Ago and. Talk to me about.
(08:16):
That it's. Positive because it involves
food. But now we are.
We are seeing some pretty exceptional cooking in hostel
kitchens nowadays. I mean, I've been living in
hostels. Probably for the last. 15 months
on or off, I am trying. I'm trying to find somewhere to
live that's a little bit more permanent with a little bit.
Less. With a little bit more privacy,
definitely hopefully where the cooking is also good, but it'll
(08:38):
be done by me. So who knows, But I'm seeing
some meals that are being whipped up in these in these
hostels and I'm like chiming in going, oh, if you if you have
any. Leftovers or if you.
Want to want me to join you for that?
Back in 2015, it was a fried egg.
Yeah, if you're lucky, maybe putsome bread in the toaster.
Yeah, there'll be some paprika that was left on the free.
Stuffed shelf. What's the craziest thing you've
(09:00):
seen rustled up about which nationality?
Well, actually the. Craziest thing key and if you're
listening mate, big shout out toyou.
He was on the carnivore diet in a hostel.
So Can you imagine this? I know you know a lot about diet
and nutrition all these different.
I'm not going to call it a. Fad, but he.
Was on the carnivore diet whilstwe were staying together in
Auckland and he fried up. He was on about 750 grams of
meat per meal. Wow.
(09:21):
And I tell you what, going into the kitchen at 9:00 in the
morning and he's frying up two fat steaks.
With a couple of eggs. That that's probably the.
Craziest thing? Because it completely consumes
everyone in there. Which was which was pretty cool.
But you're seeing like elaborate, elaborate meals where
you've got usually French people.
Actually, they're quite sociable.
I've seen some Sunday night dinners recently where they're
(09:42):
doing like a roast chicken. Someone's on the.
Potatoes, they're. You know, doing the vegetables
and there's a source on its way.Michelin style hostel.
It's very collaborative and I really love that and and I think
that that has improved because back when we were travelling at
the beginning, I would say. There was a.
Heavy, heavy proportion of thosesodium loaded instant noodles
(10:05):
that are no good for any you wouldn't you?
If you wouldn't feed them to your worst enemy, why are you
eating them? The backpacker diet.
Yeah. I think backpackers had a
reputation back then as being, like, slightly unshowered.
Yeah. Slightly malnourished.
Yeah. Sort of like urchins.
You know, we were nomads. We were vagabonds.
Nowadays, the backpackers image is slightly changing.
(10:26):
You know, you might see a backpacker in a supreme shirt
who's just had a beautiful steakand chips made on a hostel pan,
and that's fine. I'll tell you one more thing I
have seen more of. We will talk about food, but
Birkenstocks seems to be like the backpacker choice of
footwear. Now, so I mean the average spend
for a backpacker now is much more than than what it was when
we were young. Definitely.
(10:47):
I mean, now you get a backpackerwearing a bag that probably
costs more than the flight, which it maybe is normal, but
you know, three £400 for a bag and they're dressed to the nines
in all the. Latest Arcturics gear.
Chuck is a sponsor if you're listening, and some
Birkenstocks, but just going back.
To food very briefly, there is abit.
Of a hot take coming and it was said to me in a hostel in
(11:09):
Auckland, actually one of the ones I mentioned earlier.
And this is quite funny. And it'd be interesting to see
whether this observation is something that you've seen.
Even though French people are known for their food, even
though they have an inherent understanding of food and drink
pairings and their cuisine, theyseem to just be naturally very
good cooks. Bon vivo, the people that love
their good livers, right? They often will be cooking the
(11:31):
shittiest food. Interesting.
Yeah. And I, I've seen it.
I mean, this is one of those things that people just drop
into a conversation. You go, oh, my God, you're so
right. And it's so funny.
This guy said to me, have you ever noticed that French people
more often than not when they'rewrestling up something for
dinner? It will just be.
Pasta and tomato ketchup. Wow.
And there's probably. French people listening to this,
now go. We're we're not like that.
(11:54):
I'm sorry. I've seen enough of.
It I've never seen that myself. I mean, it's interesting.
Just. Just pasta and red sauce and
this was happening at the table to me, you know, a couple of
weeks ago, whatever, when I was last in Auckland and I made a.
Joke because I I. Feel like I'm somewhat in the
French community when I'm speaking French with a with a
larger. Group.
(12:14):
I said to them do you, do you not like food?
And it didn't go down that well.There was a couple of sniggers.
But I just thought. Pastor and and.
Ketchup. Like seriously.
Enjoy yourself, come on. Live a little.
But we know that. Surely we're not at that stage
now where I I feel like there's almost this once you labour
(12:35):
yourself. A backpacker or you?
Are backpacking as a, you know, vocation or?
Whatever you. You then end up living like 1
even though you don't have to. You don't have to eat those
instant noodles guys. You can afford something better
I'd. Rather, you ate less, but
better. Than three times a day those
instant noodles that are absolutely no good for anyone.
(12:55):
It's a hell of a heart take. First and foremost, Adam, we're
a backpacking community show. We love to hear from our
listeners. If you go to our website,
apologypodcast.com, we've got a contact form in the hostel
common room. People can ask us questions like
2 elder statesman of travel. Oh my goodness, what do I do?
How do I get around? What backpack should I buy?
(13:15):
That sort of thing. We've had a listener e-mail us.
It's the hostel common room. Hostel common room?
How many countries you've been to mate?
We've got an amazing e-mail thisweek, mate.
It's from the lovely Michael from New Zealand.
Funny enough. Big shout out.
Hi Adam and Alan. I've been pondering a bit of a
(13:36):
travel dilemma and would love toget your take on it.
As seasoned backpackers from thegolden age reflecting, I
realized that many of my favorite travel experiences came
from the from the completely unexpected, not just in terms of
meeting people on the road, but also the classic sightseeing
moments. While visiting my partner's
family in Osaka, I took a day trip to narrow.
I was having a great time watching the deer and some local
(13:58):
treats, but while wandering around, I stumbled across a
massive temple, told Aji. I was blown away by its size and
even more so when I stepped inside and saw the enormous
Buddha. It was one of those unreal,
serendipitous moments that left a huge impression on me.
Even though it might not be as famous as King Kakuji, the
Golden Pavilion, I've Been there, and Kiyo Mizudera, it was
far more memorable because I hadn't expected it.
(14:20):
Another example would be ordering the chef's
recommendation at a random St. stall.
Those meals often blow me away more than anything I see
trending on Instagram. What I'm guessing at is that the
unexpected often impacts me the most.
I imagine that's a common feeling among travellers.
My dilemma is that sometimes I feel the more I plan, the more I
spoil things for myself. I've noticed that watching too
many YouTube videos for doing deep and doing deep research can
(14:42):
make certain places. Feel a little overexposed?
Like the sense of. Discovery is lost.
Before I even arrive, does all the.
Pre trip research. End up dulling the experience.
Cheers, Michael. Thanks, Michael, for sending a
message into the hostel common room.
Yeah, I think it knows I. Is the short answer.
(15:02):
You can divide travellers on this topic into a couple of
different camps. Yeah.
You've got the serial planners, people who structure their time
very, very rigidly. Yeah.
And then you've got the people who aren't German, and then
you've got people who just go with the flow and just travel as
(15:23):
they like. And I personally fall into the
latter camp. I'm really not good at planning.
No, no, you don't plan a lot, doyou feel?
Like I plan too much. Not too much, but you of the two
of us definitely plan more. Yeah.
And a little tip for you, if youare someone who doesn't
particularly like to plan, you like to be like Michael.
You appreciate the the best things of the unexpected things.
(15:45):
You don't like to Google image things before you go, oh, what
do the pyramids look like? Oh, that's what they look like.
If you want to avoid that sort of disappointment, find yourself
a friend who loves to plan and then like a little parasite,
like a tick or a Leech or something like that.
Just go along with their adventures.
You'll always be surprised. Yeah, I mean.
This is probably twofold. For me so the first thing is.
(16:06):
The if you set. Expectations.
You're I think expectations govern happiness if you set them
really high and you already havea preconceived idea in your head
or you have some sort of image in your head of what an
experience or visiting a place is going to be like.
You're you're. You're setting yourself.
Up for failure. I really.
Believe that because. Often you imagine things not
just in the past but also in thefuture much better than they
(16:28):
will. Be I also.
Think that what compounds the issue and probably makes things
even worse, is that often the best things that happen when we
travel are the things that are unplanned.
They're the things that aren't tangible.
It's the little interactions with.
People, it's the. You know, seeing a a wild animal
or something like that, I mean, you just can't pay.
For that stuff, so. Yeah, I would totally agree.
The one of the things that springs to mind is the most
(16:51):
underwhelming landmark I've seenthis iconic Sydney Opera House
are. OK, interesting You didn't.
Like it? It's not.
I didn't like it, but I think I've just seen it hundreds if
not thousands of times growing up.
The picture became more iconic than the actual thing.
Yeah. And when I arrived it's.
Absolutely dwarfed. By the Sydney Harbour Bridge,
which I think is extraordinary. I love a good.
(17:13):
Bridge I really do like. Bridges, so the fact.
That the Sydney Opera House is almost the.
Star of the show. And people talk about.
Sydney Harbour Bridge. But I think it's so much more
impressive than the opera houses.
That I was just left. Feeling a little bit flat once
I'd seen it, I thought, oh that's a shame you.
Raise a very astute point, this idea that happiness is when
(17:34):
expectation meets reality, and this weird feeling we get when
those two things don't quite pair up.
And I think that because we're living in a digital age, digital
nomads coming into hostels, I think that means that we're
exposed all the time to the bestimages of the best things to do.
Rainbow Mountains, an example people will use a lot.
(17:56):
And now I think Rainbow Mountainis really, really cool in
person. It's like a formation is a
mountain in Peru where all the sand that adorns a mountain is
different colours. But people have edited pictures
of Rainbow Mountain to such highheaven that the actual living
thing can't possibly add up in terms of it's like colour
(18:20):
display. It can't possibly be anything
akin to the pictures you see before you go there.
There's tall people all around Cusco saying I'll come to
Rainbow Mountain and they're showing pictures on the side of
their stalls of this effervescently red, pink, Green
Mountain where the saturation has been boosted, right.
So it's just not that it's an actual mountain that has colours
(18:43):
that exist on planet Earth. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you're best off if you just, if you didn't see those
pictures, the first people that ever walked in those deserts and
saw those mountains would have been like, fucking hell yeah.
But then I've met a lot of travellers who went like, oh,
oh, it's just, it's actually something that looks like it
could exist in nature. Yeah, it doesn't look.
Anywhere near as distorted or warped.
(19:04):
Or the saturation has been turned up.
Totally. You're best off just not
looking. Yeah, I think you're.
Probably right? Also the.
Time that you visit places. I mean, he's mentioned in the
e-mail Kyom Isadira, where I, I've been there and I don't know
if you remember that in Kyoto, it's a lovely, lovely temple.
I went there at like 5:00 or 6:00 AM and there was no one
there. Now if you search on the
Internet best temples to visit or whatever in in Kyoto, it'll
(19:25):
always show up. But the problem is a lot.
Of the pictures. You see have been taken by
influencers or other people thathave been there, travel blogs
and stuff, and they probably go there at a similar time so that
they can get a shot with no one else in it.
Yeah, if you go there thinking, Oh my God, it looks so tranquil.
It looks so peaceful. I can't wait until I walk around
and I appreciate. The way that the.
Gravel's been, I don't know, bloody.
Swept or whatever in a certain direction.
(19:45):
It looks doing that in temples, sweeping the gravel.
But if but you show up sort of 9:00 AM with the other 2000
tourists, it doesn't matter how.Beautiful the architecture is or
the history of the place is objectively shit.
Michael, I think the balance to strike is probably you've got to
do a little bit of planning. You don't want to be completely
out on a limb, especially if you're new to backpacking and
(20:06):
stuff like that. You pretty much want to have an
idea of what you want to do. Yeah, and then, but just don't
go too rigid. Rigidity is the enemy of
spontaneity. So as.
Spontaneous travelling is the most fun kind of travelling
where you're open and free to like meet a stranger in a hostel
and be like, oh, you're cool, let's travel together, let's do
(20:27):
something together. Oh, you're interested in food,
Amazing. Let's go to the place you want
to eat. I think that's really, really
important to have your your focus and your plans loose
enough to allow those moments ofwonderment.
Because why do we travel if not for the pursuit of wonderment?
Yeah. And you know, the food thing as
well kind of feeds into this because if you go somewhere like
(20:47):
A2 Michelin star restaurant, forexample, this is the analogy I'm
going to use. If you're paying 200, three,
€100 a pop, it better be the best meal of your life.
Yeah. Anything less than that and
you're you're thinking this isn't value for money.
If you go to a little. Street food store, as Michael's
mentioned, and you pay like 5050P or a pound for something and
it blows you away. You think, Oh my God, this is
incredible value for money. It's about the expectations.
(21:08):
Totally. Thanks for e-mail, Michael.
Thanks Michael, love to hear from you.
And here we are, fast approaching one of our favorite
sections of the show. If you go to
trilogypodcast.com/tales of a Trip, there's a section now
where you can click a little button and immediately record 3
minutes of your greatest travel story.
(21:29):
We put the call out to all backpackers.
It can be a beautiful memory, a crazy adventure.
We just want to hear the best travel stories.
We play them on the podcast every week.
Let's hear this week's Tales of a Trip.
My name is Rebecca, I'm from Australia, and I wanted to share
a story about a week I spent in the monastic community in
(21:50):
France. So I I stayed in a place called
Tase. Tase is known for always having
an onus on welcoming younger people into their community for
about a week at a time for meditation, contemplation,
prayer and building community with one another.
As a person of faith, this was areally lovely and beneficial
(22:12):
time and I'm forever grateful for the kinds of friendships I
made with people from different languages, different cultures,
different faith backgrounds, andit was super special.
One of the expectations of spending time in this community
however, was contributing through some labour or through
some work. So for most people this might
(22:34):
have been something like cleaning the toilets for an hour
a day or doing some other kind of work around the around the
community to assist. For me, when I arrived, I put my
hand up for assisting with dinner duty.
So just, you know, kitchen prep.What I didn't expect from my
(23:00):
experience in a monastic societywas that in putting my hand up
to work on dinner preparations was that I would be stepping
into France's second biggest industrial kitchen with capacity
to feed to up to 3000 people. Luckily for me, however, I never
(23:20):
had to cook for 3000 people, only for up to about, you know,
500 people per night. Never in my life have I seen
pots and pans the size of which you could probably fit a whole
couple humans in there. Like something real grim fairy
tale esque like Hansel and Gretel that was so big and it
(23:43):
was just insane amounts of food that we had to start pumping out
of that kitchen. Even the most basic tomato, you
know, pasta with red sauce became a huge effort to feed
everybody out there waiting for a bowl of food for you every
night. And I remember we'd sit there
(24:05):
with these massive vats of boiling water with one person
pouring in the the instant Mashed potato and the other one
with a witch's stick size whisk,making sure that everything
would actually turn into food for the people out there that
night. And then I'd finish my dinner
(24:26):
duties and my friends would say,oh, is Mashed potato night
again? I didn't like the Mashed potato
that much, and I'd looked them in the eye and I'd say I mix
that mash. If you don't eat it, I swear
we'll never be friends again. Thank you so much for sending
that in, Rebecca. I loved that.
I loved it because it was a kindof story that we've not had yet
(24:47):
on. Tales of a Trip had a different
pace, didn't it? And that's the beautiful thing
about someone's greatest travel story.
It can be something crazy and melancholic and wild, or it can
be something like like the the effervescent nature of that
story, the beautiful fizz behindit is that she was working.
She was doing something that wasfocused on friendship,
(25:09):
connections, spirituality, and and that memory for Rebecca of
mixing that Mashed potato of creating that thing is visceral.
It's a travel experience. It's something that affected her
and and it's stored as this like, oh, remember when I was
doing that crazy thing there wasoutside of my regular life, I
was making Mashed potato in a kitchen that's equipped to be
(25:31):
3000 people. That is the kind of experience
that most people just don't get.Is is is beautiful in its
simplicity. Yeah, an industrial kitchen in
France. I've never heard such a thing,
Yeah. But no, that speaks to us.
Because we're experientialists. Yeah, and I would, absolutely.
Love especially based off Rebecca's story there.
(25:51):
To have been able to have. That experience as well.
I can't even imagine the size ofthose pots.
I mean. The capacity to feed. 3000
people. Yeah, Can you imagine the the
noise and the din that's going on, that hum of people working,
people creating. I think that's so, so beautiful.
And the theme of this show is French people and and red sauce
and pasta. Isn't that red sauce?
(26:12):
Yeah, that's. Crazy.
It's funny. Again, expectations, because
Rebecca went into that experience not really knowing.
She probably thought, you know, I hope I'm not putting words in
your mouth here, Rebecca, but you might have thought, what can
I do? What do I?
Have the ability to do. Well, bit of cooking, bit of
cleaning, that would be fine in the kitchen.
Just a kitchen hand. Yeah, lo and behold, you end up
feeding 500 people. You'd just be blown away by
something like that when you. I've never done anything like
(26:34):
that. And the, the cooking actually is
a big part of travel, isn't it? I don't just mean in a hostel.
I mean, lots of people do cooking courses when they go to
Southeast Asia and learning about the cuisine.
We saw some people in India doing it as well.
So those sorts of. Experiences, I think, are not
just what makes travel, but. Also, what sets you?
Apart from other people. They spoke.
Recently about competitive travel.
I know I was guilty when I was young of wanting to be able to
(26:56):
tell. Stories that other people.
Couldn't. Yeah.
And I think that that. Absolutely fits this category.
One of the worst things you can do when you're travelling, one
of the most awful waste of time are people who go travelling and
they spend a year just seeing amazing things.
Yeah, it is a waste of time if you just do that because you're
as a traveller, your opportunityis to accumulate new experiences
(27:17):
and skills that would be impossible to get at your home
country. And I'm sorry to say it's firmly
my belief. I think if you've travelled and
you've not got any new skills asa result of it, you've not
travelled in the best way. So that's why people do cooking
courses and things like that. You're in Thailand, why not
learn to make a killer pad Thai so when you go home you can cook
it for your partner and have this really cool thing where no
(27:39):
one else knows in your communityhow to do that.
And I think Rebecca's made a really good go of going.
She's interested in spirituality.
She's a person of faith. She's gone to a monastic
community. She's lived out that experience
that she's taken from home. I'm a person of faith.
She's done something unique thatshe couldn't do at home with it.
Maybe she's even lost friends over Mashed potato.
(27:59):
Yeah, exactly. Who would have known going into
that, that she would have becomeso attached to the mash, Put a
heart and soul into it. And we need to lose friends over
it as well. Yeah, ruin your social life over
a mushed up potato. Exactly.
I can make some pretty mean Mashed potato.
Well, that is an important point, isn't it?
To do things that create stories.
Go out of your way to engage in activities that can teach you
(28:21):
new things, giving you perspective.
Yeah, yeah. And that's exactly.
The sort of story. That we love to hear on this
show I mean by all means guys, please keep sending them in We
love hearing them obviously thisis a platform for.
You guys to share? Your stories and inspire the
people that you're listening as well.
Absolutely. We love to hear them.
We love it when we get a little notification saying there's a
new Tales of a Trip come in. We save them, we listen to on
(28:41):
the show, talk about them with you guys.
We're going to head off to the Patreon section now.
Well, you've got a crazy story, haven't you, about scamming
Queenstown. Yeah.
Patreon.com/tropology Podcast I'm going to tell Alan all about
the time I was scammed in in Queenstown, which only happened
a couple of days ago. I've got the e-mail to read out.
Here it is honestly unbelievable.
For the rest of you tropologists, there's a link to
(29:03):
all our socials down in the description, but for now, we'll
see you all next week. See you there.
Bye.
Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology.
It's the only podcast where the hosts get up early in the
morning in an Airbnb and switch the mics on.
I'm Alan and I'm here with one of the best backpackers in the
world, my best friend. It's the ever expectant Adam.
I'm expecting big things for this episode, mate.
We've got some hostile culture coming up.
(00:22):
We're going to discuss how things have changed in hostels
over the years. We've got an amazing, amazing
e-mail from a listener and then at the end, everyone's favorite
new item on the show. Is Tales of a Trip.
Yeah, tales of a trip, backpacking, stories from the
backpacking community. Oh, my goodness.
Can't wait for it. Yeah, man, I was talking to you
last night. We're holed up in this Airbnb
sharing a double bed to save money.
(00:45):
And we sort of said, you know what, our hostels changing
because we both started travelling around 2015, didn't
we, around that sort of time. 2014 for you 2016. 2014 December
the 16th, 2014. September 2015 for me.
Basically the same. I think that was slap bang in
the middle of the golden age of travelling.
(01:07):
Hear me out guys. You have mentioned this a few
times and I I mean, of course wewould all.
Love to believe that we. Travelled at the greatest time
to travel we may be caught the tail end of of what?
It is. You're about.
To talk about sure, I would haveloved to be travelling around
Iran in the 70s. But it just wasn't available to
me then because I wasn't alive. I think that it's easy to be
(01:28):
like, yeah, I was there when it was the best, you know?
But I do think the golden age oftravel started somewhere around
2010, OK, and ended with the pandemic.
Right. The reason I just just all.
Travel ended with the pandemic, so.
Exactly, and then when it re kind of convened and everyone's
like oh we can travel again, it wasn't quite the same.
It's still beautiful, still the most amazing thing in my life.
(01:51):
I love it. As if travel is listening in.
Please, I still adore you and people should definitely travel
now, you know, but I think that basically what happened was in
the 2010, it was the first sort of decade, the beginning of that
decade was the first time where you had Internet technology that
made travelling convenient easy.It was easy to research, it was
(02:15):
easy to book hostels, it was easy to find out information
where you were going, but it wasstill not the most popular
thing. It's still required a lot of
panache to go like I'm going to be a long term traveller.
Almost everyone doing long term travel had some kind of mental
illness. I know because I was one of
(02:37):
them. It was like in 2015 you'd get
people traveling kind of for sixmonths, all that stuff.
But the people you met who were like, I'm going for a year, you
were like, oh, fucking me too. What's wrong with you?
Yeah, anxiety and depression. Oh yeah, I'm running away from
something. Oh, perfect.
Nowadays that's just not the same because of increased
accessibility. Yeah, you definitely find a
(02:57):
different type of backpacker, I think, and it's easy.
For us to say. That it'd be really interesting
send your emails in send your messages in because we.
Would like to get. Your thoughts on this?
But I feel like over the 10-11 years that I've been travelling
and living in hostels, there's definitely a different type of
backpacker now. Not necessarily bad, you know,
we can't choose which era we're born in or anything like that.
But I also think that when we started out.
(03:20):
You had to proactively. Go and search maybe a bus or
something in terms of the infrastructure and logistics,
whereas now. It's you're absolutely peppered
at. Every single opportunity by
travel companies or local tour companies and they're, they're
all all offering a similar experience when we were back,
you know, back when we were travelling.
I would agree. I would say that there were lots
(03:41):
of people. That were older than me,
obviously because I was younger.But yeah, nowadays technology,
the way that it's changed things.
Certainly in hostels, when you're signing into hostels,
there's two hostels I want to talk about.
One of them is in in Auckland, Not going to mention it because
I know the guys there, they're great friends.
And the other ones in Seoul. In Auckland, I arrived at the
reception which closes at five, 5:00 PM for a reception on a
(04:01):
hostel. It's ridiculously early.
I hated it. I arrived there before 5 and
wanted to check in, but I was immediately shown some little
kiosk, some little robot type screen thing where you've got to
plug in all your details and allthat sort of stuff.
And the person behind the counter said we are trying to
train that machine. There's been some new software
uploaded and we just want to test it out.
(04:22):
So I can't check you into the desk.
Can you just check in with that machine?
And I was like, Oh my God, you know, 10 minutes later, the
thing didn't work and I was backto square one, having to check
in with a human. Now, I wouldn't necessarily mind
that. I understand there's a changing
times. But if you go to Seoul, Korea.
There's a place called. Something cube or something like
that. And the checking process is so
impersonal that it ends up creating these metaphoric
(04:42):
barriers within the hostel. It lacks a personal touch.
Yeah, I mean, you can't. You can't even meet a human even
if you wanted to, and that is a big issue for me because one of
the reasons we stay in hostels is to meet other people.
It is to have that lovely. Backpacking communal atmosphere,
but you get sent an e-mail with a checking code and then, then,
then you go through the door, you have one checking code for
the door, then you have another checking code for your locker.
(05:03):
And even though there's like a big communal space where
everyone has breakfast, no one talks.
To each other because of these. What will become literal
barriers between the dorms and the check in process?
And they just try and keep everyone as far away as they can
from each other. And I think that is that is a
negative. Well, let's talk about, let's
just like that a little bit further because what you're
talking about that sort of ease of accessibility.
(05:26):
Get in, get on your laptop, don't talk to anyone.
That is symptomatic of this era we're living in now, which is
the rise of the digital nomad. Preface that by saying I love
the fact that we're now living post pandemic in a world where
people don't feel that they haveto be constrained to the office.
They can get their laptops, theycan go to hostels.
(05:47):
I love that. I think it's great.
I would rather we lived in that world.
But it has to be said, it changes hostile culture.
We're now in this world where pre pandemic you had to be like
crazy to just go, I'm not going to get a job.
I'm going to travel. I'm going to be nomadic.
Now in the pandemic, everyone was like, oh God, is this the
(06:08):
future? We can't handle this.
We've got to leave everyone sortof like in a mass exodus.
It feels like, OK, now is the time to seize this opportunity
to seize my life. I'm going to go travelling.
And so you, you're kind of like the, the old school travellers
who are all like, hey, fuck the government.
They're also like, I mean, we'recrowded by, by these new wave
(06:30):
travellers, these digital nomads.
That's not necessarily in itselfa bad thing, but it does create
a very different situation in hostels when people's primary
directive is to work to check ineasily, not to like be social,
not to experience a place so much as just live and work out
of a hostel. Yeah, I wonder as well, maybe
what's compounding the issue? Is that because everywhere?
(06:53):
Where else has become so expensive now?
The people that maybe were staying in private accommodation
or. Hotels they can't afford.
That so the next step down is ofcourse staying in a hostel.
So now you're actually seeing people that probably.
Have a. Have a higher economy than they
would have done whereas. Before, you know, hostels were
just for us cheapos. Yeah, totally.
And then hostels react, don't they?
(07:13):
Because hostels get all these new clientele of richer people.
Who are working? Yeah.
Absolutely. So then it's like the hostels
start selling the experience of come here.
It's ever so social becomes the same price as the Airbnb
travellers like me and you are forced out of the hostels
because it's too pricey now and go to Airbnb.
It's a cyclical cycle. I think here anthropology, you
(07:34):
know, let's just encourage good hostel etiquette.
If you're staying in a hostel, Ithink to some extent you have an
obligation to do your work, finish your work, but do engage
in the social culture is really important to smile at people, to
like make conversation. You take your work, do it.
But I think social aspects are important.
(07:55):
Yeah, it's not about being gatekeepers or anything like
that. I mean, Can you imagine if we
exist in a time in the future where in order to go to a
certain country? Or a certain hostel you will
have had to prove that you've. Been to so many other countries
before. Or something crazy to stop you
in future like that. I do.
Think that there are some thingsthat are happening in hostels
nowadays that maybe weren't 1015years.
Ago and. Talk to me about.
(08:16):
That it's. Positive because it involves
food. But now we are.
We are seeing some pretty exceptional cooking in hostel
kitchens nowadays. I mean, I've been living in
hostels. Probably for the last. 15 months
on or off, I am trying. I'm trying to find somewhere to
live that's a little bit more permanent with a little bit.
Less. With a little bit more privacy,
definitely hopefully where the cooking is also good, but it'll
(08:38):
be done by me. So who knows, But I'm seeing
some meals that are being whipped up in these in these
hostels and I'm like chiming in going, oh, if you if you have
any. Leftovers or if you.
Want to want me to join you for that?
Back in 2015, it was a fried egg.
Yeah, if you're lucky, maybe putsome bread in the toaster.
Yeah, there'll be some paprika that was left on the free.
Stuffed shelf. What's the craziest thing you've
(09:00):
seen rustled up about which nationality?
Well, actually the. Craziest thing key and if you're
listening mate, big shout out toyou.
He was on the carnivore diet in a hostel.
So Can you imagine this? I know you know a lot about diet
and nutrition all these different.
I'm not going to call it a. Fad, but he.
Was on the carnivore diet whilstwe were staying together in
Auckland and he fried up. He was on about 750 grams of
meat per meal. Wow.
(09:21):
And I tell you what, going into the kitchen at 9:00 in the
morning and he's frying up two fat steaks.
With a couple of eggs. That that's probably the.
Craziest thing? Because it completely consumes
everyone in there. Which was which was pretty cool.
But you're seeing like elaborate, elaborate meals where
you've got usually French people.
Actually, they're quite sociable.
I've seen some Sunday night dinners recently where they're
(09:42):
doing like a roast chicken. Someone's on the.
Potatoes, they're. You know, doing the vegetables
and there's a source on its way.Michelin style hostel.
It's very collaborative and I really love that and and I think
that that has improved because back when we were travelling at
the beginning, I would say. There was a.
Heavy, heavy proportion of thosesodium loaded instant noodles
(10:05):
that are no good for any you wouldn't you?
If you wouldn't feed them to your worst enemy, why are you
eating them? The backpacker diet.
Yeah. I think backpackers had a
reputation back then as being, like, slightly unshowered.
Yeah. Slightly malnourished.
Yeah. Sort of like urchins.
You know, we were nomads. We were vagabonds.
Nowadays, the backpackers image is slightly changing.
(10:26):
You know, you might see a backpacker in a supreme shirt
who's just had a beautiful steakand chips made on a hostel pan,
and that's fine. I'll tell you one more thing I
have seen more of. We will talk about food, but
Birkenstocks seems to be like the backpacker choice of
footwear. Now, so I mean the average spend
for a backpacker now is much more than than what it was when
we were young. Definitely.
(10:47):
I mean, now you get a backpackerwearing a bag that probably
costs more than the flight, which it maybe is normal, but
you know, three £400 for a bag and they're dressed to the nines
in all the. Latest Arcturics gear.
Chuck is a sponsor if you're listening, and some
Birkenstocks, but just going back.
To food very briefly, there is abit.
Of a hot take coming and it was said to me in a hostel in
(11:09):
Auckland, actually one of the ones I mentioned earlier.
And this is quite funny. And it'd be interesting to see
whether this observation is something that you've seen.
Even though French people are known for their food, even
though they have an inherent understanding of food and drink
pairings and their cuisine, theyseem to just be naturally very
good cooks. Bon vivo, the people that love
their good livers, right? They often will be cooking the
(11:31):
shittiest food. Interesting.
Yeah. And I, I've seen it.
I mean, this is one of those things that people just drop
into a conversation. You go, oh, my God, you're so
right. And it's so funny.
This guy said to me, have you ever noticed that French people
more often than not when they'rewrestling up something for
dinner? It will just be.
Pasta and tomato ketchup. Wow.
And there's probably. French people listening to this,
now go. We're we're not like that.
(11:54):
I'm sorry. I've seen enough of.
It I've never seen that myself. I mean, it's interesting.
Just. Just pasta and red sauce and
this was happening at the table to me, you know, a couple of
weeks ago, whatever, when I was last in Auckland and I made a.
Joke because I I. Feel like I'm somewhat in the
French community when I'm speaking French with a with a
larger. Group.
(12:14):
I said to them do you, do you not like food?
And it didn't go down that well.There was a couple of sniggers.
But I just thought. Pastor and and.
Ketchup. Like seriously.
Enjoy yourself, come on. Live a little.
But we know that. Surely we're not at that stage
now where I I feel like there's almost this once you labour
(12:35):
yourself. A backpacker or you?
Are backpacking as a, you know, vocation or?
Whatever you. You then end up living like 1
even though you don't have to. You don't have to eat those
instant noodles guys. You can afford something better
I'd. Rather, you ate less, but
better. Than three times a day those
instant noodles that are absolutely no good for anyone.
(12:55):
It's a hell of a heart take. First and foremost, Adam, we're
a backpacking community show. We love to hear from our
listeners. If you go to our website,
apologypodcast.com, we've got a contact form in the hostel
common room. People can ask us questions like
2 elder statesman of travel. Oh my goodness, what do I do?
How do I get around? What backpack should I buy?
(13:15):
That sort of thing. We've had a listener e-mail us.
It's the hostel common room. Hostel common room?
How many countries you've been to mate?
We've got an amazing e-mail thisweek, mate.
It's from the lovely Michael from New Zealand.
Funny enough. Big shout out.
Hi Adam and Alan. I've been pondering a bit of a
(13:36):
travel dilemma and would love toget your take on it.
As seasoned backpackers from thegolden age reflecting, I
realized that many of my favorite travel experiences came
from the from the completely unexpected, not just in terms of
meeting people on the road, but also the classic sightseeing
moments. While visiting my partner's
family in Osaka, I took a day trip to narrow.
I was having a great time watching the deer and some local
(13:58):
treats, but while wandering around, I stumbled across a
massive temple, told Aji. I was blown away by its size and
even more so when I stepped inside and saw the enormous
Buddha. It was one of those unreal,
serendipitous moments that left a huge impression on me.
Even though it might not be as famous as King Kakuji, the
Golden Pavilion, I've Been there, and Kiyo Mizudera, it was
far more memorable because I hadn't expected it.
(14:20):
Another example would be ordering the chef's
recommendation at a random St. stall.
Those meals often blow me away more than anything I see
trending on Instagram. What I'm guessing at is that the
unexpected often impacts me the most.
I imagine that's a common feeling among travellers.
My dilemma is that sometimes I feel the more I plan, the more I
spoil things for myself. I've noticed that watching too
many YouTube videos for doing deep and doing deep research can
(14:42):
make certain places. Feel a little overexposed?
Like the sense of. Discovery is lost.
Before I even arrive, does all the.
Pre trip research. End up dulling the experience.
Cheers, Michael. Thanks, Michael, for sending a
message into the hostel common room.
Yeah, I think it knows I. Is the short answer.
(15:02):
You can divide travellers on this topic into a couple of
different camps. Yeah.
You've got the serial planners, people who structure their time
very, very rigidly. Yeah.
And then you've got the people who aren't German, and then
you've got people who just go with the flow and just travel as
(15:23):
they like. And I personally fall into the
latter camp. I'm really not good at planning.
No, no, you don't plan a lot, doyou feel?
Like I plan too much. Not too much, but you of the two
of us definitely plan more. Yeah.
And a little tip for you, if youare someone who doesn't
particularly like to plan, you like to be like Michael.
You appreciate the the best things of the unexpected things.
(15:45):
You don't like to Google image things before you go, oh, what
do the pyramids look like? Oh, that's what they look like.
If you want to avoid that sort of disappointment, find yourself
a friend who loves to plan and then like a little parasite,
like a tick or a Leech or something like that.
Just go along with their adventures.
You'll always be surprised. Yeah, I mean.
This is probably twofold. For me so the first thing is.
(16:06):
The if you set. Expectations.
You're I think expectations govern happiness if you set them
really high and you already havea preconceived idea in your head
or you have some sort of image in your head of what an
experience or visiting a place is going to be like.
You're you're. You're setting yourself.
Up for failure. I really.
Believe that because. Often you imagine things not
just in the past but also in thefuture much better than they
(16:28):
will. Be I also.
Think that what compounds the issue and probably makes things
even worse, is that often the best things that happen when we
travel are the things that are unplanned.
They're the things that aren't tangible.
It's the little interactions with.
People, it's the. You know, seeing a a wild animal
or something like that, I mean, you just can't pay.
For that stuff, so. Yeah, I would totally agree.
The one of the things that springs to mind is the most
(16:51):
underwhelming landmark I've seenthis iconic Sydney Opera House
are. OK, interesting You didn't.
Like it? It's not.
I didn't like it, but I think I've just seen it hundreds if
not thousands of times growing up.
The picture became more iconic than the actual thing.
Yeah. And when I arrived it's.
Absolutely dwarfed. By the Sydney Harbour Bridge,
which I think is extraordinary. I love a good.
(17:13):
Bridge I really do like. Bridges, so the fact.
That the Sydney Opera House is almost the.
Star of the show. And people talk about.
Sydney Harbour Bridge. But I think it's so much more
impressive than the opera houses.
That I was just left. Feeling a little bit flat once
I'd seen it, I thought, oh that's a shame you.
Raise a very astute point, this idea that happiness is when
(17:34):
expectation meets reality, and this weird feeling we get when
those two things don't quite pair up.
And I think that because we're living in a digital age, digital
nomads coming into hostels, I think that means that we're
exposed all the time to the bestimages of the best things to do.
Rainbow Mountains, an example people will use a lot.
(17:56):
And now I think Rainbow Mountainis really, really cool in
person. It's like a formation is a
mountain in Peru where all the sand that adorns a mountain is
different colours. But people have edited pictures
of Rainbow Mountain to such highheaven that the actual living
thing can't possibly add up in terms of it's like colour
(18:20):
display. It can't possibly be anything
akin to the pictures you see before you go there.
There's tall people all around Cusco saying I'll come to
Rainbow Mountain and they're showing pictures on the side of
their stalls of this effervescently red, pink, Green
Mountain where the saturation has been boosted, right.
So it's just not that it's an actual mountain that has colours
(18:43):
that exist on planet Earth. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you're best off if you just, if you didn't see those
pictures, the first people that ever walked in those deserts and
saw those mountains would have been like, fucking hell yeah.
But then I've met a lot of travellers who went like, oh,
oh, it's just, it's actually something that looks like it
could exist in nature. Yeah, it doesn't look.
Anywhere near as distorted or warped.
(19:04):
Or the saturation has been turned up.
Totally. You're best off just not
looking. Yeah, I think you're.
Probably right? Also the.
Time that you visit places. I mean, he's mentioned in the
e-mail Kyom Isadira, where I, I've been there and I don't know
if you remember that in Kyoto, it's a lovely, lovely temple.
I went there at like 5:00 or 6:00 AM and there was no one
there. Now if you search on the
Internet best temples to visit or whatever in in Kyoto, it'll
(19:25):
always show up. But the problem is a lot.
Of the pictures. You see have been taken by
influencers or other people thathave been there, travel blogs
and stuff, and they probably go there at a similar time so that
they can get a shot with no one else in it.
Yeah, if you go there thinking, Oh my God, it looks so tranquil.
It looks so peaceful. I can't wait until I walk around
and I appreciate. The way that the.
Gravel's been, I don't know, bloody.
Swept or whatever in a certain direction.
(19:45):
It looks doing that in temples, sweeping the gravel.
But if but you show up sort of 9:00 AM with the other 2000
tourists, it doesn't matter how.Beautiful the architecture is or
the history of the place is objectively shit.
Michael, I think the balance to strike is probably you've got to
do a little bit of planning. You don't want to be completely
out on a limb, especially if you're new to backpacking and
(20:06):
stuff like that. You pretty much want to have an
idea of what you want to do. Yeah, and then, but just don't
go too rigid. Rigidity is the enemy of
spontaneity. So as.
Spontaneous travelling is the most fun kind of travelling
where you're open and free to like meet a stranger in a hostel
and be like, oh, you're cool, let's travel together, let's do
(20:27):
something together. Oh, you're interested in food,
Amazing. Let's go to the place you want
to eat. I think that's really, really
important to have your your focus and your plans loose
enough to allow those moments ofwonderment.
Because why do we travel if not for the pursuit of wonderment?
Yeah. And you know, the food thing as
well kind of feeds into this because if you go somewhere like
(20:47):
A2 Michelin star restaurant, forexample, this is the analogy I'm
going to use. If you're paying 200, three,
€100 a pop, it better be the best meal of your life.
Yeah. Anything less than that and
you're you're thinking this isn't value for money.
If you go to a little. Street food store, as Michael's
mentioned, and you pay like 5050P or a pound for something and
it blows you away. You think, Oh my God, this is
incredible value for money. It's about the expectations.
(21:08):
Totally. Thanks for e-mail, Michael.
Thanks Michael, love to hear from you.
And here we are, fast approaching one of our favorite
sections of the show. If you go to
trilogypodcast.com/tales of a Trip, there's a section now
where you can click a little button and immediately record 3
minutes of your greatest travel story.
(21:29):
We put the call out to all backpackers.
It can be a beautiful memory, a crazy adventure.
We just want to hear the best travel stories.
We play them on the podcast every week.
Let's hear this week's Tales of a Trip.
My name is Rebecca, I'm from Australia, and I wanted to share
a story about a week I spent in the monastic community in
(21:50):
France. So I I stayed in a place called
Tase. Tase is known for always having
an onus on welcoming younger people into their community for
about a week at a time for meditation, contemplation,
prayer and building community with one another.
As a person of faith, this was areally lovely and beneficial
(22:12):
time and I'm forever grateful for the kinds of friendships I
made with people from different languages, different cultures,
different faith backgrounds, andit was super special.
One of the expectations of spending time in this community
however, was contributing through some labour or through
some work. So for most people this might
(22:34):
have been something like cleaning the toilets for an hour
a day or doing some other kind of work around the around the
community to assist. For me, when I arrived, I put my
hand up for assisting with dinner duty.
So just, you know, kitchen prep.What I didn't expect from my
(23:00):
experience in a monastic societywas that in putting my hand up
to work on dinner preparations was that I would be stepping
into France's second biggest industrial kitchen with capacity
to feed to up to 3000 people. Luckily for me, however, I never
(23:20):
had to cook for 3000 people, only for up to about, you know,
500 people per night. Never in my life have I seen
pots and pans the size of which you could probably fit a whole
couple humans in there. Like something real grim fairy
tale esque like Hansel and Gretel that was so big and it
(23:43):
was just insane amounts of food that we had to start pumping out
of that kitchen. Even the most basic tomato, you
know, pasta with red sauce became a huge effort to feed
everybody out there waiting for a bowl of food for you every
night. And I remember we'd sit there
(24:05):
with these massive vats of boiling water with one person
pouring in the the instant Mashed potato and the other one
with a witch's stick size whisk,making sure that everything
would actually turn into food for the people out there that
night. And then I'd finish my dinner
(24:26):
duties and my friends would say,oh, is Mashed potato night
again? I didn't like the Mashed potato
that much, and I'd looked them in the eye and I'd say I mix
that mash. If you don't eat it, I swear
we'll never be friends again. Thank you so much for sending
that in, Rebecca. I loved that.
I loved it because it was a kindof story that we've not had yet
(24:47):
on. Tales of a Trip had a different
pace, didn't it? And that's the beautiful thing
about someone's greatest travel story.
It can be something crazy and melancholic and wild, or it can
be something like like the the effervescent nature of that
story, the beautiful fizz behindit is that she was working.
She was doing something that wasfocused on friendship,
(25:09):
connections, spirituality, and and that memory for Rebecca of
mixing that Mashed potato of creating that thing is visceral.
It's a travel experience. It's something that affected her
and and it's stored as this like, oh, remember when I was
doing that crazy thing there wasoutside of my regular life, I
was making Mashed potato in a kitchen that's equipped to be
(25:31):
3000 people. That is the kind of experience
that most people just don't get.Is is is beautiful in its
simplicity. Yeah, an industrial kitchen in
France. I've never heard such a thing,
Yeah. But no, that speaks to us.
Because we're experientialists. Yeah, and I would, absolutely.
Love especially based off Rebecca's story there.
(25:51):
To have been able to have. That experience as well.
I can't even imagine the size ofthose pots.
I mean. The capacity to feed. 3000
people. Yeah, Can you imagine the the
noise and the din that's going on, that hum of people working,
people creating. I think that's so, so beautiful.
And the theme of this show is French people and and red sauce
and pasta. Isn't that red sauce?
(26:12):
Yeah, that's. Crazy.
It's funny. Again, expectations, because
Rebecca went into that experience not really knowing.
She probably thought, you know, I hope I'm not putting words in
your mouth here, Rebecca, but you might have thought, what can
I do? What do I?
Have the ability to do. Well, bit of cooking, bit of
cleaning, that would be fine in the kitchen.
Just a kitchen hand. Yeah, lo and behold, you end up
feeding 500 people. You'd just be blown away by
something like that when you. I've never done anything like
(26:34):
that. And the, the cooking actually is
a big part of travel, isn't it? I don't just mean in a hostel.
I mean, lots of people do cooking courses when they go to
Southeast Asia and learning about the cuisine.
We saw some people in India doing it as well.
So those sorts of. Experiences, I think, are not
just what makes travel, but. Also, what sets you?
Apart from other people. They spoke.
Recently about competitive travel.
I know I was guilty when I was young of wanting to be able to
(26:56):
tell. Stories that other people.
Couldn't. Yeah.
And I think that that. Absolutely fits this category.
One of the worst things you can do when you're travelling, one
of the most awful waste of time are people who go travelling and
they spend a year just seeing amazing things.
Yeah, it is a waste of time if you just do that because you're
as a traveller, your opportunityis to accumulate new experiences
(27:17):
and skills that would be impossible to get at your home
country. And I'm sorry to say it's firmly
my belief. I think if you've travelled and
you've not got any new skills asa result of it, you've not
travelled in the best way. So that's why people do cooking
courses and things like that. You're in Thailand, why not
learn to make a killer pad Thai so when you go home you can cook
it for your partner and have this really cool thing where no
(27:39):
one else knows in your communityhow to do that.
And I think Rebecca's made a really good go of going.
She's interested in spirituality.
She's a person of faith. She's gone to a monastic
community. She's lived out that experience
that she's taken from home. I'm a person of faith.
She's done something unique thatshe couldn't do at home with it.
Maybe she's even lost friends over Mashed potato.
(27:59):
Yeah, exactly. Who would have known going into
that, that she would have becomeso attached to the mash, Put a
heart and soul into it. And we need to lose friends over
it as well. Yeah, ruin your social life over
a mushed up potato. Exactly.
I can make some pretty mean Mashed potato.
Well, that is an important point, isn't it?
To do things that create stories.
Go out of your way to engage in activities that can teach you
(28:21):
new things, giving you perspective.
Yeah, yeah. And that's exactly.
The sort of story. That we love to hear on this
show I mean by all means guys, please keep sending them in We
love hearing them obviously thisis a platform for.
You guys to share? Your stories and inspire the
people that you're listening as well.
Absolutely. We love to hear them.
We love it when we get a little notification saying there's a
new Tales of a Trip come in. We save them, we listen to on
(28:41):
the show, talk about them with you guys.
We're going to head off to the Patreon section now.
Well, you've got a crazy story, haven't you, about scamming
Queenstown. Yeah.
Patreon.com/tropology Podcast I'm going to tell Alan all about
the time I was scammed in in Queenstown, which only happened
a couple of days ago. I've got the e-mail to read out.
Here it is honestly unbelievable.
For the rest of you tropologists, there's a link to
(29:03):
all our socials down in the description, but for now, we'll
see you all next week. See you there.
Bye.
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