November 8, 2025 • 34 mins
Travel guides, travel novels, and travel magazines are the theme of this week's Tripping Point travel quiz! How much does Alun know about the travel publications that changed the world? Tune in and play along!
Adam's been having campervan malfunctions, which have left him stranded in the rain. Apparently leaving the headlights switched on all day can run the battery down... Fortunately there's a French stallion on hand to save the day!
Tales of a Trip goes hitchhiking this week, as we hear from a young chap who was picked up whilst walking the Te Araroa. Putting his trust in complete strangers, a trip to the local supermarket turned into days of fishing and playing golf!
Join our Patreon community to access the Lost & Found bonus section, as this week Adam shares a recent tale of him working a trial shift at one of the best restaurants in the world. The pressure's on!
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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 is the only backpacking podcast where
there's a greater number of passports between us than
employers. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
ever literary Adam. We're back for another show.
Thanks ever so much for joining us.
We really do appreciate it. Hell of a show.
This week we're going to give you some updates.
As we usually do. I'm going to tell a hell of a
(00:22):
story where I was left stranded last night out in the rain on my
own without a clue. And then of course, we've got
Tripping Point, everyone's favorite travel quiz.
Have you books at the ready? And then we go to Tales of a
Trip where we hear from one of you guys.
What a gorgeous summation of theshow, flawlessly executed by a
gorgeous man. I'm very happy to join you here
on this episode of Tripology. I'm sorry to hear that you, like
(00:43):
me last week, have been having mishaps, Adam.
Yeah, I've been feeling very isolated, mate.
I've made a few blunders over the last few days, actually.
I'll tell you what I will in thePatreon section.
If you head over to the Lost andFound and sign up there, I will
tell you a wicked story where I did a trial shift in one of the
world's best restaurants and letme tell you, I still haven't
heard back from them. But anyway, on to what happened
(01:05):
last night, mate. You know I've got this camper
van. I've heard rumours about you in
a camper van. There's been some sightings from
the tripological audience. Some little pictures get sent to
me. Oh, there's Adam in a camper
van. What's been going on?
Yeah. Put your underwear back on.
No, so I've got this camper van and as you know mate, I'm a bit
of a technophobe. I don't like anything to do with
technology or the future. Electricity sometimes and that
(01:27):
extends into mechanics and engineering.
So I I know almost nothing aboutcars other than how to drive
one. I don't know if that does that
surprise you. No, I've always thought of you
as a bit of a Ned Ludd sort of figure.
So, yeah, it sounds like a compliment.
So imagine yesterday, right? I had left work after what was a
(01:48):
nine and a half 10 hour shift. It was absolutely bucketing it
down. If anyone's got their finger on
the pulse with what's going on in New Zealand at the moment, I
mean, the rain is outrageous. The rain has broken records in
September, on October. I think it's the most rain
that's ever fallen in the history of the world.
Roads are falling apart, rivers are running over buildings.
Not quite as bad as a tsunami, but yeah, you, you get the idea.
(02:10):
Anyway, the weather's proper shit.
I left work and I went to my van.
I was happy to start driving home and as soon as I opened the
door there was a ticking sound. Ohh.
God, and your your mind goes crazy when you hear a ticking
sound. Don't you think it's gonna?
It's gotta be a bomb. It's gotta be.
Clock. A countdown to something you
(02:30):
almost My instinct when I hear aticking sound is just to wait
and see because either somethingreally bad or really good at the
end of. It yeah, it was, it was a
repetitive ticking sound and thekeys weren't in the ignition
yet. And I thought if this is a bomb,
if I was making a bomb and I planted it in a campervan, I
would probably, you know, where you, what do they call it when
(02:54):
you set off a bomb, when you detonate a bomb.
I would make it at the moment almost with comical timing that
the person put the key in the ignition and turned it.
I mean that that would be for comical value.
That would be great, wouldn't it?
That's probably when you would how you would rig a bomb.
Yeah, and it's important. I I'm sick of people doing these
explosive assassination attemptswith no diligence paid to
(03:15):
comedic timing or effects. It's how you see it on the
cartoons. You put the key in the ignition,
you turn the key and all of a sudden, kaboom.
Yeah. So I thought maybe I'll just
leave it in case it is a bomb. The best assassins are outside
the car lighting a fuse with a match, are they?
That's exactly it mate. I was, I was terrified.
I thought, well I already know nothing about cars and I know
(03:36):
even less about bombs. So what am I going to do here?
I I was actually giving my boss a lift home, who was getting
soaked by the way, because he was standing outside thinking,
you know, why has he turned the van on yet?
Unlocked the door or something? Why?
Didn't you unlock the door? I don't know, just wait until
I've sorted this out. Save yourself.
Another comedic choice by you. This whole scene's funnier if my
(04:00):
boss is outside in the rain. Yeah, something like get your
cameras, come on. But anyway, I turned the key and
nothing happened and it was at that point I realised that the
battery was dead and I had absolutely no way of getting
home. And the the dread, I was just
immediately filled with dread because I was already thinking,
(04:20):
well, my entire night is a writeoff at that point, isn't it?
And your bosses? Yeah, yeah.
I felt so bad. I looked at him immediately.
I said little mistake, could have left the lights on all day.
Yeah, I mean, maybe that was what happened.
Maybe the the ignition was turned.
I don't know. The the bottom line is this van
is going absolutely fucking nowhere.
So if you wanna get a bus home instead.
You're you're not the ever empathetic Adam this week, are
(04:42):
you? Just like, Oh my nights ruined.
Meanwhile your boss is there. You're absolutely pelted by
never precedented New Zealand weather.
Well, the ironic thing was that I actually worked later than he
asked me to so that I could givehim a lift home.
That is ironic. But I felt quite bad and then I
was thinking, OK, what options have I got?
Bless him, he immediately got onthe phone to one of our other
(05:05):
friends who knows a little bit about cars.
You know, he's ridden motorbikesand that.
Can you give? Me a lift.
Yeah, yeah. Now don't worry about Adam.
It'd be fun. He's all right.
This is fault anyway. But I I phoned the A a
Alcoholics. Anonymous.
I decided to drain my way out ofeverything.
But I, I phoned them and the first guy that answered the
(05:26):
phone had no time for me, probably because it was coming
to closing time. It was about four minutes to 8
in the evening. And he kept on asking me whether
I was a member. And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm
insured with you. And I said he said no, no.
Are you a member of the AAI? And I couldn't because I
couldn't hear him that well because of my phone and also the
the rain. I kept on saying, yes, yes, I am
(05:47):
a member. I am a member.
And he was trying to ask me something.
I was trying to reply to what hewas saying.
And then he just hung up on me. He just hung up.
Ellen, Can you believe? It unbelievable.
I can't believe that. And luckily in the meantime, my
mate had arranged for one of ourother friends, unbeknownst to
me, to come round and and sort the whole thing out.
(06:10):
And thank goodness someone knew something about cars.
So there I was, like damsel in distress, as I am with you
sometimes, just trying to help, trying to lend a hand.
B turns, turns up, you know, bigFrench stallion with the cables
or whatever they're called, whatthey call.
Yeah, jump cables. Jump cables.
Yeah, Reese. Don't worry mate, you'll be
fine. I was like, no, no.
I think I'm probably gonna have to charge the entire camper van
(06:31):
for about 8 hours. It's like, no, no, I'll just
connect this to this, turn the engine on and you'll be you'll
be away. And lo and behold mate, that is
exactly what happened. But it probably cost me a good
45 minutes if it wasn't for the help of some dear friends.
Well, that is a shame to hear. I'm glad that there was sort of
someone progressed through the hierarchy of, you know, towards
(06:54):
alpha and alpha male. I'm glad there was an alpha male
there to sort of assist you car people.
They're quite a rare breed, aren't they?
Nowadays. Yeah, but I was thinking, you
know, you were hung up on by that A a guy.
Yeah, I've only ever been hung up on by one person in customer
service, and it was in New Zealand, so I'm noticing a
(07:16):
theme. Wow, that is interesting.
There are, you know, I did, I have said this, maybe this next
thing that I'm about to say. I won't necessarily cut into a
reel and put it on Instagram. But I have noticed that in
Australia and New Zealand with my dealings across various
industries, whether it's, you know, doctors, medicine, banks
(07:40):
and finance firms, logistics, obviously now car insurance,
they are lacking, mate. Yeah, they are lacking they.
Are they are? The person that hung up on me
was actually they're working in a pizza shop.
Right. Why did they hang up?
Well, we can do a role play if you like, but you will have to
play me. I'll play the pizza God.
(08:02):
And I'll and forgive me, I'm gonna play the pizza worker, but
forgive me, I'm gonna do an Australian accent for those
listeners who have some nuance. And that's not an easy an
accent. I am gonna try and just get by.
All you have to do, Adam, is sayI would like a pizza, please.
It's so funny you should say that because just yesterday I
was talking to a Kiwi who I thought was Australian and I
(08:24):
implied that they were Australian and they took offence
and said what? How could you possibly think I'm
Australian? Why can't you tell by my accent?
And you are in New Zealand? The irony is like you do sound
fairly similar. Quite, quite the same really.
And to a lot of people's ears. Yeah.
All right, mate. So you're you're calling me up,
OK. And you're saying I would like a
(08:45):
pizza? OK, do you want me to do the
ringtone I? Think it's better?
Yeah, give some context. Yeah.
OK. So bring, bring, bring, bring.
All right, mate, Hell's Pizza. Hi mate, yeah, I've just called.
I'd like a pizza. What do you want mate?
Sorry, I can't. What do you want?
I'd like a pizza please. What's that?
Mate, a pizza. I'd like a pizza.
(09:07):
What kind of pizza? What kind of pizza do you want?
I can't hear you mate. Oh wow, just like that.
And evidence was because I made subsequent calls to different
establishments, there was nothing wrong with my phone and
he could in fact hear me. So if you work at Hell's Pizza
and you remember that on New Year's Eve 2017 you hung up on a
(09:29):
guy who just wanted a little bitof pizza on his New Year's Eve,
fuck you. Was it because of your
pronunciation of pizza, do you think?
It's pronounced pizza Mate. There's no Panini at this place,
no. I do think just rounding off me,
that so many things like that have happened in my life.
(09:53):
Actually, that is the first timethat I've ever let my car go
dead and had and it's had no battery.
That's never happened before. I've never changed a tyre in my
life. I've had very, very good luck
even on my long cycle rides. I've also never had to fix a
puncture and people seem to helpme out in my moments of need
like I am a damsel in distressing these things.
(10:13):
I do wonder sometimes if it would actually be better for me
and my development and growth ifyou know when shit hits the fan.
I just had to do it on my own. I've.
Long thought this about you. I never have to do it on my own.
Yeah, because I always ask for help.
Yeah, I know what you're going to say, but you know, obviously
you know what I mean, because I ask you for help on a daily
(10:35):
basis. I think people actually almost
get into two categories with this and it really is that
simple. There are people who are willing
to ask for help all the time andthat serves them in a wide array
of contexts. And there are people that really
prefer not to ask for help. And I think people who prefer
not to ask for help end up like,I have changed the tyre.
(10:57):
Yeah, yeah, several times, you know what I mean?
So like in those situations if on my own, but but I probably
can't change a tire as well as that burly Alpha Australian that
came to help you so. No, he was French.
Oh French by that burly alpha Frenchman that came to help you
so. But you do you do know how to do
many more things than I do as a result.
(11:17):
But we've both still won an independent podcasting award,
so. Swings and roundabouts.
You know, path of least resistance.
And I bet if you called up on New Year's Eve trying to get a
pizza, maybe you'd have given you one.
Maybe you do got 1. So who's who's bad at the end of
the day? That's what I'm saying.
I think that asking for help whilst travelling is a very
(11:38):
valuable skill though, because Ihave been travelling with you in
context where I'm trying to solve a problem and I'm like my,
this is what am I going to do here?
Where do I go here? And you just go up someone like,
hello, I'm looking to try and just have my whole day organised
for me for free. Oh, Alan, I've sorted it.
Some of this guy's just going totake us.
I'm like, OK, cool. That's good, isn't it?
(12:01):
You're like, but but the app. Yeah, that's funny.
Exactly. You are right.
You are right. Well, mate, I think that's about
time we go off into the next section of the show.
And I know that you were delaying the process.
I know you were trying to make this first third as long as it
could possibly be because I've got no doubt you're quaking in
your boots at the next part of the episode, which is of course,
everyone's favorite travel quiz is tripping point.
(12:31):
Tripping point. Tripping Point, of course, the
section of the show that gives me that anxious feeling deep in
my belly as I know that not onlyam I going to be tested, but I'm
going to be tested with some of the best questions that Adam can
possibly devise. So I'm willing to take them head
on. Last time we played Tripping
(12:51):
Point, of course, it was what the kids in Gen.
Z call an epic fail. I didn't answer anything
correctly. It was quite a hard episode, but
I can only imagine you've adjusted the difficulty
accordingly. Yeah.
I mean, I, I have adjusted the difficulty I would say more
accurately. I've probably gone a little bit
out of left field with this one.And even though it is heavily
(13:14):
travel related, it's also sort of publication and book related,
which is of course, thanks for listening.
You keen need listen listeners, which is why you refer to me as
the literary literature. This is a book special.
How much have you read in the way of travel novels, travel
publications, famous travel, iconic sort of books and
magazines? I've in my whole life I've read
(13:36):
maybe 5 books. I've listened to a few more than
that, but I've got an English language degree.
I'm the only person on my coursewho didn't read a single book
during the English language degree because on day one the
lecturer said this isn't like a level you won't pass unless you
read the materials. And I saw that as a kind of sexy
(13:59):
challenge. So I haven't read much Adam, but
I'm going to do my best regardless.
OK, well I think I think you're going to do fine mate because
even if you don't know the answer, your methodology and
your game in game strategy that often helps you win very famous
UK game shows will prevail. So here we go.
(14:22):
Are you ready for #1 Are you ready for the first question?
Well, I would like if you introduced something in the way
of a wager. OK, because it is about books
and I have been reading. Actually, you'll be pleased to
know I'm currently reading threebooks at the same time.
Not literally literally at the same time, but I'm sort of
halfway through one, just about to finish another and just
started another one. I would quite like an Amazon.
(14:45):
Are they Amazon the the Kindles?Are they owned by Amazon?
I can do you an Amazon gift cardmate.
Yeah, for a first, sort of put that towards a Kindle.
If you get 4 out of five, it's actually technically going to be
4 out of seven because there area couple of cheeky bonus
questions for you. So how does that sound?
I would, I think if, if I get less than three, I'll give you
(15:06):
an Amazon gift voucher and if you if I get more than three.
I'll read a book to you. Sure, I'll come and read a book
to you. How about that?
Let's get on with it. So here we go, number one.
Yeah, Lonely Planet was founded in 1972 by Tony and Maureen
Wheeler, with their first guide being published in 1973.
(15:28):
But what was it called? Is it A across Asia on the
cheap? Is it B budget Backpackers
Bible? Is it C Europe on a shoestring?
Or is it D the Banana Pancake Trail?
I think it was the budget backpack Bible.
Okay, are you locking it in? Yeah, I'm afraid mate.
It's across Asia on the cheap. I could tell by the little smirk
(15:51):
you quite liked the question. That is going back a very long
way, isn't it? I once read an article on those
individuals who started Lonely Planet.
Yeah. And I did remember vaguely that
there'd been a name change, but obviously couldn't quite
remember what it was. Frankly, I thought that the
other the. I don't think all the titles
were. I mean, I'm glad they changed it
(16:12):
to Lonely Planet, so bit of a toss up for me there, but I'll
take the. Loss.
There are some really interesting things.
So did you know Lonely Planet has since printed over 150
million copies worldwide with the Wheelers very first
guidebook back in the very early70s being written on a borrowed
typewriter in an apartment in Melbourne, Australia, which is
pretty cool. I also just off the top of my
(16:33):
head was when I was doing a bit of research about this question,
I think it was back in 2007, they sold 75% to BBC Worldwide.
Did you know that? That isn't, but congratulations
to them. I've heard BBC Worldwide pray
Penny, Yeah. Have you got any idea how much
it was? 5 mil. 5 million for a 75% stake
in Lonely Planet. Yeah, when it was arguably at
(16:55):
it's height it was. It was more like 60-70 million.
10 times why I would have negotiated.
So Congrats to the guys over there at Lonely Planet.
Yeah, the audacity of calling itacross Asia on the trip the
cheap, you know, Fast forward three years.
Yeah, 30 years. Beg your pardon?
Here's our new book, How to Travel Asia if you just made 50
(17:15):
million from the BBC Step one, stay in a.
Hotel. Yeah, get off your first class
flight having down a bottle of champagne.
Wipe the caviar out of the corners of your mouth.
The locals don't like it. #2 themagazine Conde Nast Traveller
historically used the tagline Truth in Travel, but in 2013 the
(17:38):
tagline was redefined as what Isit A the world made local?
Is it B luxury for less? Is it C fashionable wanderlust?
Or is it D the planet in pages? It's either the planet in pages
or luxury for I think it's planet in pages.
I think it's planet in pages. I'll pull the wool over your
(17:59):
eyes, mate. That was one I came up with last
minute. I'm really glad you went for it.
It's actually the world made local.
It's quite a nice tagline, isn'tit?
Oh dear, Adam, Yeah. I mean, I recently tried to get
Tropology featured in Conde Nastand so looked at their pages and
and I can't remember seeing that.
So obviously not very prominent,badly designed.
(18:22):
What do you think of Planet in Pages?
We can copyright that if you want.
I mean, I did just make it up a couple of days ago.
I think it's better than what Conde Nast are doing.
Yeah. Oh, Adam is the developer of
such great travel tag lines likeConde Nast Planet in Pages and
Tripology Travel Podcast. Dear, Oh dear, here we go #3
(18:44):
let's try and get you some points on the board.
I really need to, otherwise my Amazon account is going to look
a little bit. Like I know I could do with a
new book as well. I've only got 3 on the go #3
what is often considered the oldest continuously running
travel magazine still in publication?
Is it? A National Geographic.
Is it B wanderlust, Is it C travel and leisure?
(19:05):
Or is it D Condon S Traveller? It's not Geo baby all the way.
Give me that point and relinquish me of my debt to
Amazon. OK, Yeah, you got one point on
the board, mate. That's a great answer.
Do you want a bonus point to guess the decade that it started
in? Is it the 19 hundreds 1900s
(19:26):
right? No, it's older, but not by much.
I was going to say, OK, I I wanted to just check if that was
the case because I think it's 1890.
It's 1888. My goodness.
It's a great guess. It's a great guess.
I was going to say 1890 off the trot, but I thought if it's
like, really not that I didn't want to appear a bit stupid, you
(19:47):
know? You got to go with your gut
mate. No one thinks you're stupid
that's listening to this. My goodness.
Some people do. I've had a few hurtful messages
recently from listeners saying things exactly like that.
Alan, you're stupid. I got a message from my dad last
week so just listening to the most recent episode.
Alan's not done very well on thetripping points recently, is it?
Really. Did you actually get that
(20:08):
message? Your dad, of course.
One of my greatest critics when it comes to the old intellect
arch. Enemy, that's so funny.
OK, here we go, here we go #4 you'll like this one, mate, you
really will. Jack Kerouac typed the first
draft of On the Road on a singleroll of paper.
Approximately how long did it take him?
(20:29):
Was it a three? Two weeks.
OK. We'll just keep bear that in
mind. A three weeks, B three months, C
six months or D1 year. OK, yeah, three weeks then.
Obviously a huge Jack Kerouac fan.
He was one of the defining reasons why I initially went
travelling and I know that it was a matter of weeks.
He locked himself in his apartment and just wrote and
(20:51):
wrote, and famously his dog ate the end of that scroll that he
wrote on. So you can actually go and see
the scroll in Lille is where he's from.
And then maybe the museum's in Lille as well.
But that's pretty cool. Yeah.
The end of the paper is gone. So three weeks is my answer.
OK, yeah, I mean, you're right, of course you're right.
(21:12):
That's fantastic. And did you know the continuous
scroll was 120 foot long? Kerouac chose to write this way
basically just to not lose the flow and the energy of what it
was he was writing. So how cool is that?
Yeah, I also like Kerouac's writing style.
Gives me a lot of solace when I think, oh, I'd like to write a
(21:32):
travel book. But the investment of time, it
would take us so much, I think, well, Kerouac knocked one out in
three weeks, so it's pretty cool.
Yes, no, I think especially withAI now mate, you'll be fine.
Here we go #5 when the Michelin Guide staff system launched in
1926, what did giving a restaurant one star originally
(21:55):
signify? Was it a worth stopping at?
Was it B culinary excellence? Was it C exceptional service?
Or was it D good value for money?
Yeah, I believe when Michelin started giving out their stars,
they were basically saying that if you receive a Michelin star,
you are worth stopping at, you're worth wearing out your
(22:16):
tyres to go make a journey to. So it's a.
It is. You're right, mate, you're
right. I think that's four points on
the board. Fantastic.
And you just touched on a reallyinteresting point because I
didn't necessarily know this, but the Michelin Guide was
launched back in 1900 and the 1st, 35,000 copies no less, were
given away for free. And this was to encourage people
to drive further, spending more time on the roads, thus wearing
(22:39):
out their tyres more quickly so they could sell more tyres.
It was all part of their master plan.
Quite an insidious marketing strategy from Michelin there,
rivalled only, of course by Swedish giant Spotify, who made
copyright claims unrelentingly on accounts that don't deserve
it. Yeah, we're actually not sure
whether you're gonna be able to hear this, of course, because
(23:01):
this episode might just get deleted like the last one.
Yeah, amazing stuff. Anyway, we've got a couple of
bonus questions. I'll RIP through these pretty
quick #1 Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is a novel based
heavily on the authors own life.Which of these is true about
Roberts journey that inspired the book?
A. He escaped from Australian
prison and fled to India. B He lived in the slums of
(23:23):
Mumbai for several years, or C He became involved with local
organized crime while in exile. Oh I actually haven't read
Shantaram, I just remember in India people were talking about
it a lot. It's a bit of a trick question
this one mate. Is it?
Why? Tell me?
(23:43):
Well, tell me what the trick is and I'll tell you the answer.
Well, no, because the because ifI tell you that you will, you'll
just get it right. I might as well just tell you.
Did he become involved in some organised crime?
The trick 1 is a bit of a curveball.
It's actually all of them. Every single one features in the
book. He's lived a hell of a life
mate. Really incredible stuff.
So it is one of those books. Of course you, the people
(24:04):
listening to the show, have probably read it.
I mean you see it in every single hostel and every single
bookshelf. It's definitely a book that
people say is in the top ten books you must read if you
travel. I haven't read it yet and you
haven't read it yet, so maybe that's something for us to do in
our own timing. There's a genius.
Question and a genius trick. It's that kind of human touch
that makes you know that this show is lovingly curated and not
(24:25):
written by Vagabot. Yeah, he couldn't have written
this last one either, because one thing Vagabot does very well
is come up with a lot of copy inalmost next to no time.
But he doesn't know you as a person, and I do.
So this next question mate, it hasn't got multiple choice but
I'll be surprised if you get it wrong.
No pressure. This is the last question of the
(24:45):
show, which famous travel writersaid if you reject the food,
ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people,
you might better stay home. Anthony Bourdain.
There you go. There you go.
Yeah, amazing. A great line.
(25:06):
It's a great line. Andy Bourdain, of course, passed
away just a very short amount oftime after I started travelling,
but was a huge motivating factorfor me, one of the greatest
travellers of all time, one of the greatest travel writers of
all time, and holds a very special place in my heart there.
Adam as well, in that he helped me evade having to buy you a
(25:27):
book. And of course, now you're going
to read something to me, which is going to be an exciting bit
of Instagram content or something, I imagine.
But now though, Speaking of travel stories, we want the
listeners to have the opportunity to tell us a great
travel story by way of Tales of a trip.
You can head to tripologypodcast.com/tales of a
trip and record 3 minutes of thegreatest travel story that you
(25:51):
have be at the time you jumped into a big waterfall and
survived all the time. You erode a lion through the
savannahs of Africa. That kind of hyperbolic nonsense
is occasionally welcome if it actually is true.
So let's hear what I had to say.Let's go there right now.
(26:15):
Hey Adam, this is one of my moreinteresting experiences while
hiking the Tierra Rowan, which is from the north to South of
New Zealand. It's about a 3000 kilometer hike
and this happened to me in the North Islands.
I was after a day of hiking, I wanted to go and resupply at the
(26:35):
supermarkets so and the supermarket was about 3
kilometers away from the campsite.
So I tried to hitch there and I got a hitch which was pretty
normal as usual. And on the way back, I tried to
get a hitch back again. And this time there were two
guys from the age around 19 and 20 who picked me up.
(26:56):
And they told me we can take youto your campsite, but we first
need to go and get, we first need to go to the liquor store.
So it was just like, Oh yeah, for sure, don't worry about it.
And so they started driving to the liquor store, which was in a
complete different direction andwas on the highway and was about
(27:19):
10 minutes away, even though my campsite was about two minutes
away. So which is awesome.
I'm like, hey, it's everything still all right?
And are we still going to the same campsite?
Yeah. They told me, don't worry, we're
not kidnapping you. So that was kind of reassuring.
And I asked them, oh, what are you guys going to do?
(27:41):
Or are you guys going somewhere special?
And they told me that they were going to play golf and they
asked me if I wanted to join them.
So I said yeah, I will join you.So they drove me back to the
campsite. They dropped off my stuff from
the grocery and I went and played golf with them, which was
(28:03):
a lot of fun. And they shared their beers and
we had a really good time. They even took me to their
dealer and we got some weed after I asked them if they knew
somebody. And the day after they texted me
like, hey, do you want to go on a real, you're seeing that fan
show? And I was just like, yeah, yeah,
(28:24):
for sure. And they picked me up again and
they took me fishing and from the weed that I got the day
before, one of the other TA hikers, he mates edibles, he
mates cookies. And so as a thank you, I gave
them also some of the cookies and we ended up having a really,
(28:45):
really good time. And all of this happened just by
accident. And yeah, and I was a was a lot
of fun and I really enjoy and cherish the moment.
Thank you. Being there, proving that if you
have an open mind and an open heart and you're willing to go
off the be in track and travel via hitchhiking and meeting
(29:09):
strangers and being all open like that, a plethora of drug
based experiences could await you.
Yeah, I do like it. I think what that what that
experience. Well, it sounds like it lasts a
few days. It sort of epitomizes what I
love about travel is if you do just say yes, you can't, you
know, when you first hitchhike, you, you can't possibly imagine
(29:31):
where it's going to end up if you just keep saying yes.
But when you get on with the people you're hitchhiking with,
one thing leads to another before you know, you know, a
couple of days later or whatever, or you maybe the next
day you're teeing off with them playing golf on the same day.
Then you they invite you on a fishing trip and then you're
probably still in touch with those people.
It's it it really is important to to have that sort of open
mind and just, you know, maybe be in the same frame of mind
(29:54):
that remind yourself from time to time.
Not everyone is trying to kidnapyou.
Yeah, it's something that I needto be reminded of, for sure.
I do often in a lot of situations, wonder, is this
person trying to kidnap me? Just today, I was buying a
coffee at the local coffee shop here in Shagao.
And when she handed me a coffee and I gave her money, the
(30:15):
thought did cross my mind. Is this a kidnapping?
No, no, You're just buying coffee.
So I've learned a lesson there from Kayan's message.
Yeah, it's it is a lovely message.
Thanks ever so much for for writing Kim.
We really do appreciate it like you had a wonderful time.
Would you ever walk that sort ofdistance mate?
Few 1000 kilometers through hiking.
I love a long hike. You know one of my life's goals
(30:38):
is to hike the PCT. I do know that and the reason I
have another acronym. Yeah, the Pacific Crest Trail.
The reason I've not done it is because, A, it's like very
expensive, B, we'd have to really be on top of it with
Tripology, because you hike through and then stop at like
rest points. And we could do the show from
there. But if we weren't doing it
(30:59):
together, it would be a big ask for the show.
I yeah, I think we would at thispoint probably have to do it
together. It would have to be a thing that
we did together in order to keepthe show going as regularly as
it as it is the way to. Do it would be to like have 4
episodes done in advance record as we went which is mad because
people saw their toothbrushes inhalf to save weight on the PCT.
(31:21):
So was hiking with these things would be knots.
But we'd have to just take the tape, a toothbrush to the other
end, yeah, and make use of the shaft.
All I make like a rudimentary microphone with like a needle
and some like ceramic film. Yeah, I've got no idea how it
would happen, but I'm sure it ispossible in this day and age to
do podcasts on the PCT. We'll just have to.
We'll just have to try. Yeah, we'd be getting how the
(31:41):
Samsung goes, the old little micbecause that we're used to, yes,
that's for sure. But I think it would be a lot of
fun. So through hiking is something
I'm really interested in. Yeah, it's.
The thing I love about through hiking is that it's, and I know
this is going to sound a little bit cliched, but I think it's
also the the way that Suraj's message made me feel in last
week's episode, which is when you go from point to point or
(32:03):
your journey is weeks or months long, you, you can't have had
the experience at the end without of having, without
having had the experience at thebeginning.
You can't get to where you're going without coming from where
you've been. And I know that that might sound
quite strange, but when you do just walk in One Direction for a
(32:25):
long time, it is just about the stages that you go through and
how you change and the people you meet and the stories you can
tell. Yeah.
And I kind of echo Kayan's feelings there because obviously
the take away for him, the thingthat he's remembered viscerally
is like the warmth from those people after the hike.
And I think that the same with me, like that Everest hike that
(32:45):
I did in Nepal, the most recent like long 21 day through hike.
I think the people that I'm withare the lasting memory, like
they're the thing that I feel like beautiful about.
Yeah, mate, I mean, we really dohave to do some more of that
stuff. It's experiences I would say a
little blind spot perhaps on my travel CV, if you will.
Now I've got a camper van. Now I'm going to be living the
(33:06):
van life for a bit, which was another huge hole in my my
travel experiences, I guess you could call it.
And through hiking is another one.
And yeah, I want to keep going. I want to keep maybe having sort
of a more goal oriented focus tomy travels.
And if you ever want to do the PCT and we're still doing this
(33:27):
award-winning, fantastic, wonderful, gigantic, bloody
influential podcast, then I'd, I'd love to do it with you.
As long as there's no bears, please no bears.
Well, there you go. I'm sure that we will be hearing
more about your hiking adventures as you go on your
Lord of the Rings themed adventures in your camper van,
but for now, it's time that we dash off really, isn't it?
(33:49):
Thank you so much to Cam for sending in a message.
And you guys can do the same by going to
tripologypodcast.com/hazel Trip.3 minutes of your greatest
travel story. Or if you love what we're doing,
you want to support me and Adam in a very wonderful, much needed
way and you want to hear what happens after the theme music
ends in the Lost and Found section.
It's patreon.com/tripology podcast, the greatest Patreon in
(34:12):
all the travel podcast worlds. Join us over the there, but for
now, we'll see you next week. We'll see you there.
Bye.
Hello. And welcome to this episode of
Tripology is the only backpacking podcast where
there's a greater number of passports between us than
employers. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
ever literary Adam. We're back for another show.
Thanks ever so much for joining us.
We really do appreciate it. Hell of a show.
This week we're going to give you some updates.
As we usually do. I'm going to tell a hell of a
(00:22):
story where I was left stranded last night out in the rain on my
own without a clue. And then of course, we've got
Tripping Point, everyone's favorite travel quiz.
Have you books at the ready? And then we go to Tales of a
Trip where we hear from one of you guys.
What a gorgeous summation of theshow, flawlessly executed by a
gorgeous man. I'm very happy to join you here
on this episode of Tripology. I'm sorry to hear that you, like
(00:43):
me last week, have been having mishaps, Adam.
Yeah, I've been feeling very isolated, mate.
I've made a few blunders over the last few days, actually.
I'll tell you what I will in thePatreon section.
If you head over to the Lost andFound and sign up there, I will
tell you a wicked story where I did a trial shift in one of the
world's best restaurants and letme tell you, I still haven't
heard back from them. But anyway, on to what happened
(01:05):
last night, mate. You know I've got this camper
van. I've heard rumours about you in
a camper van. There's been some sightings from
the tripological audience. Some little pictures get sent to
me. Oh, there's Adam in a camper
van. What's been going on?
Yeah. Put your underwear back on.
No, so I've got this camper van and as you know mate, I'm a bit
of a technophobe. I don't like anything to do with
technology or the future. Electricity sometimes and that
(01:27):
extends into mechanics and engineering.
So I I know almost nothing aboutcars other than how to drive
one. I don't know if that does that
surprise you. No, I've always thought of you
as a bit of a Ned Ludd sort of figure.
So, yeah, it sounds like a compliment.
So imagine yesterday, right? I had left work after what was a
(01:48):
nine and a half 10 hour shift. It was absolutely bucketing it
down. If anyone's got their finger on
the pulse with what's going on in New Zealand at the moment, I
mean, the rain is outrageous. The rain has broken records in
September, on October. I think it's the most rain
that's ever fallen in the history of the world.
Roads are falling apart, rivers are running over buildings.
Not quite as bad as a tsunami, but yeah, you, you get the idea.
(02:10):
Anyway, the weather's proper shit.
I left work and I went to my van.
I was happy to start driving home and as soon as I opened the
door there was a ticking sound. Ohh.
God, and your your mind goes crazy when you hear a ticking
sound. Don't you think it's gonna?
It's gotta be a bomb. It's gotta be.
Clock. A countdown to something you
(02:30):
almost My instinct when I hear aticking sound is just to wait
and see because either somethingreally bad or really good at the
end of. It yeah, it was, it was a
repetitive ticking sound and thekeys weren't in the ignition
yet. And I thought if this is a bomb,
if I was making a bomb and I planted it in a campervan, I
would probably, you know, where you, what do they call it when
(02:54):
you set off a bomb, when you detonate a bomb.
I would make it at the moment almost with comical timing that
the person put the key in the ignition and turned it.
I mean that that would be for comical value.
That would be great, wouldn't it?
That's probably when you would how you would rig a bomb.
Yeah, and it's important. I I'm sick of people doing these
explosive assassination attemptswith no diligence paid to
(03:15):
comedic timing or effects. It's how you see it on the
cartoons. You put the key in the ignition,
you turn the key and all of a sudden, kaboom.
Yeah. So I thought maybe I'll just
leave it in case it is a bomb. The best assassins are outside
the car lighting a fuse with a match, are they?
That's exactly it mate. I was, I was terrified.
I thought, well I already know nothing about cars and I know
(03:36):
even less about bombs. So what am I going to do here?
I I was actually giving my boss a lift home, who was getting
soaked by the way, because he was standing outside thinking,
you know, why has he turned the van on yet?
Unlocked the door or something? Why?
Didn't you unlock the door? I don't know, just wait until
I've sorted this out. Save yourself.
Another comedic choice by you. This whole scene's funnier if my
(04:00):
boss is outside in the rain. Yeah, something like get your
cameras, come on. But anyway, I turned the key and
nothing happened and it was at that point I realised that the
battery was dead and I had absolutely no way of getting
home. And the the dread, I was just
immediately filled with dread because I was already thinking,
(04:20):
well, my entire night is a writeoff at that point, isn't it?
And your bosses? Yeah, yeah.
I felt so bad. I looked at him immediately.
I said little mistake, could have left the lights on all day.
Yeah, I mean, maybe that was what happened.
Maybe the the ignition was turned.
I don't know. The the bottom line is this van
is going absolutely fucking nowhere.
So if you wanna get a bus home instead.
You're you're not the ever empathetic Adam this week, are
(04:42):
you? Just like, Oh my nights ruined.
Meanwhile your boss is there. You're absolutely pelted by
never precedented New Zealand weather.
Well, the ironic thing was that I actually worked later than he
asked me to so that I could givehim a lift home.
That is ironic. But I felt quite bad and then I
was thinking, OK, what options have I got?
Bless him, he immediately got onthe phone to one of our other
(05:05):
friends who knows a little bit about cars.
You know, he's ridden motorbikesand that.
Can you give? Me a lift.
Yeah, yeah. Now don't worry about Adam.
It'd be fun. He's all right.
This is fault anyway. But I I phoned the A a
Alcoholics. Anonymous.
I decided to drain my way out ofeverything.
But I, I phoned them and the first guy that answered the
(05:26):
phone had no time for me, probably because it was coming
to closing time. It was about four minutes to 8
in the evening. And he kept on asking me whether
I was a member. And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm
insured with you. And I said he said no, no.
Are you a member of the AAI? And I couldn't because I
couldn't hear him that well because of my phone and also the
the rain. I kept on saying, yes, yes, I am
(05:47):
a member. I am a member.
And he was trying to ask me something.
I was trying to reply to what hewas saying.
And then he just hung up on me. He just hung up.
Ellen, Can you believe? It unbelievable.
I can't believe that. And luckily in the meantime, my
mate had arranged for one of ourother friends, unbeknownst to
me, to come round and and sort the whole thing out.
(06:10):
And thank goodness someone knew something about cars.
So there I was, like damsel in distress, as I am with you
sometimes, just trying to help, trying to lend a hand.
B turns, turns up, you know, bigFrench stallion with the cables
or whatever they're called, whatthey call.
Yeah, jump cables. Jump cables.
Yeah, Reese. Don't worry mate, you'll be
fine. I was like, no, no.
I think I'm probably gonna have to charge the entire camper van
(06:31):
for about 8 hours. It's like, no, no, I'll just
connect this to this, turn the engine on and you'll be you'll
be away. And lo and behold mate, that is
exactly what happened. But it probably cost me a good
45 minutes if it wasn't for the help of some dear friends.
Well, that is a shame to hear. I'm glad that there was sort of
someone progressed through the hierarchy of, you know, towards
(06:54):
alpha and alpha male. I'm glad there was an alpha male
there to sort of assist you car people.
They're quite a rare breed, aren't they?
Nowadays. Yeah, but I was thinking, you
know, you were hung up on by that A a guy.
Yeah, I've only ever been hung up on by one person in customer
service, and it was in New Zealand, so I'm noticing a
(07:16):
theme. Wow, that is interesting.
There are, you know, I did, I have said this, maybe this next
thing that I'm about to say. I won't necessarily cut into a
reel and put it on Instagram. But I have noticed that in
Australia and New Zealand with my dealings across various
industries, whether it's, you know, doctors, medicine, banks
(07:40):
and finance firms, logistics, obviously now car insurance,
they are lacking, mate. Yeah, they are lacking they.
Are they are? The person that hung up on me
was actually they're working in a pizza shop.
Right. Why did they hang up?
Well, we can do a role play if you like, but you will have to
play me. I'll play the pizza God.
(08:02):
And I'll and forgive me, I'm gonna play the pizza worker, but
forgive me, I'm gonna do an Australian accent for those
listeners who have some nuance. And that's not an easy an
accent. I am gonna try and just get by.
All you have to do, Adam, is sayI would like a pizza, please.
It's so funny you should say that because just yesterday I
was talking to a Kiwi who I thought was Australian and I
(08:24):
implied that they were Australian and they took offence
and said what? How could you possibly think I'm
Australian? Why can't you tell by my accent?
And you are in New Zealand? The irony is like you do sound
fairly similar. Quite, quite the same really.
And to a lot of people's ears. Yeah.
All right, mate. So you're you're calling me up,
OK. And you're saying I would like a
(08:45):
pizza? OK, do you want me to do the
ringtone I? Think it's better?
Yeah, give some context. Yeah.
OK. So bring, bring, bring, bring.
All right, mate, Hell's Pizza. Hi mate, yeah, I've just called.
I'd like a pizza. What do you want mate?
Sorry, I can't. What do you want?
I'd like a pizza please. What's that?
Mate, a pizza. I'd like a pizza.
(09:07):
What kind of pizza? What kind of pizza do you want?
I can't hear you mate. Oh wow, just like that.
And evidence was because I made subsequent calls to different
establishments, there was nothing wrong with my phone and
he could in fact hear me. So if you work at Hell's Pizza
and you remember that on New Year's Eve 2017 you hung up on a
(09:29):
guy who just wanted a little bitof pizza on his New Year's Eve,
fuck you. Was it because of your
pronunciation of pizza, do you think?
It's pronounced pizza Mate. There's no Panini at this place,
no. I do think just rounding off me,
that so many things like that have happened in my life.
(09:53):
Actually, that is the first timethat I've ever let my car go
dead and had and it's had no battery.
That's never happened before. I've never changed a tyre in my
life. I've had very, very good luck
even on my long cycle rides. I've also never had to fix a
puncture and people seem to helpme out in my moments of need
like I am a damsel in distressing these things.
(10:13):
I do wonder sometimes if it would actually be better for me
and my development and growth ifyou know when shit hits the fan.
I just had to do it on my own. I've.
Long thought this about you. I never have to do it on my own.
Yeah, because I always ask for help.
Yeah, I know what you're going to say, but you know, obviously
you know what I mean, because I ask you for help on a daily
(10:35):
basis. I think people actually almost
get into two categories with this and it really is that
simple. There are people who are willing
to ask for help all the time andthat serves them in a wide array
of contexts. And there are people that really
prefer not to ask for help. And I think people who prefer
not to ask for help end up like,I have changed the tyre.
(10:57):
Yeah, yeah, several times, you know what I mean?
So like in those situations if on my own, but but I probably
can't change a tire as well as that burly Alpha Australian that
came to help you so. No, he was French.
Oh French by that burly alpha Frenchman that came to help you
so. But you do you do know how to do
many more things than I do as a result.
(11:17):
But we've both still won an independent podcasting award,
so. Swings and roundabouts.
You know, path of least resistance.
And I bet if you called up on New Year's Eve trying to get a
pizza, maybe you'd have given you one.
Maybe you do got 1. So who's who's bad at the end of
the day? That's what I'm saying.
I think that asking for help whilst travelling is a very
(11:38):
valuable skill though, because Ihave been travelling with you in
context where I'm trying to solve a problem and I'm like my,
this is what am I going to do here?
Where do I go here? And you just go up someone like,
hello, I'm looking to try and just have my whole day organised
for me for free. Oh, Alan, I've sorted it.
Some of this guy's just going totake us.
I'm like, OK, cool. That's good, isn't it?
(12:01):
You're like, but but the app. Yeah, that's funny.
Exactly. You are right.
You are right. Well, mate, I think that's about
time we go off into the next section of the show.
And I know that you were delaying the process.
I know you were trying to make this first third as long as it
could possibly be because I've got no doubt you're quaking in
your boots at the next part of the episode, which is of course,
everyone's favorite travel quiz is tripping point.
(12:31):
Tripping point. Tripping Point, of course, the
section of the show that gives me that anxious feeling deep in
my belly as I know that not onlyam I going to be tested, but I'm
going to be tested with some of the best questions that Adam can
possibly devise. So I'm willing to take them head
on. Last time we played Tripping
(12:51):
Point, of course, it was what the kids in Gen.
Z call an epic fail. I didn't answer anything
correctly. It was quite a hard episode, but
I can only imagine you've adjusted the difficulty
accordingly. Yeah.
I mean, I, I have adjusted the difficulty I would say more
accurately. I've probably gone a little bit
out of left field with this one.And even though it is heavily
(13:14):
travel related, it's also sort of publication and book related,
which is of course, thanks for listening.
You keen need listen listeners, which is why you refer to me as
the literary literature. This is a book special.
How much have you read in the way of travel novels, travel
publications, famous travel, iconic sort of books and
magazines? I've in my whole life I've read
(13:36):
maybe 5 books. I've listened to a few more than
that, but I've got an English language degree.
I'm the only person on my coursewho didn't read a single book
during the English language degree because on day one the
lecturer said this isn't like a level you won't pass unless you
read the materials. And I saw that as a kind of sexy
(13:59):
challenge. So I haven't read much Adam, but
I'm going to do my best regardless.
OK, well I think I think you're going to do fine mate because
even if you don't know the answer, your methodology and
your game in game strategy that often helps you win very famous
UK game shows will prevail. So here we go.
(14:22):
Are you ready for #1 Are you ready for the first question?
Well, I would like if you introduced something in the way
of a wager. OK, because it is about books
and I have been reading. Actually, you'll be pleased to
know I'm currently reading threebooks at the same time.
Not literally literally at the same time, but I'm sort of
halfway through one, just about to finish another and just
started another one. I would quite like an Amazon.
(14:45):
Are they Amazon the the Kindles?Are they owned by Amazon?
I can do you an Amazon gift cardmate.
Yeah, for a first, sort of put that towards a Kindle.
If you get 4 out of five, it's actually technically going to be
4 out of seven because there area couple of cheeky bonus
questions for you. So how does that sound?
I would, I think if, if I get less than three, I'll give you
(15:06):
an Amazon gift voucher and if you if I get more than three.
I'll read a book to you. Sure, I'll come and read a book
to you. How about that?
Let's get on with it. So here we go, number one.
Yeah, Lonely Planet was founded in 1972 by Tony and Maureen
Wheeler, with their first guide being published in 1973.
(15:28):
But what was it called? Is it A across Asia on the
cheap? Is it B budget Backpackers
Bible? Is it C Europe on a shoestring?
Or is it D the Banana Pancake Trail?
I think it was the budget backpack Bible.
Okay, are you locking it in? Yeah, I'm afraid mate.
It's across Asia on the cheap. I could tell by the little smirk
(15:51):
you quite liked the question. That is going back a very long
way, isn't it? I once read an article on those
individuals who started Lonely Planet.
Yeah. And I did remember vaguely that
there'd been a name change, but obviously couldn't quite
remember what it was. Frankly, I thought that the
other the. I don't think all the titles
were. I mean, I'm glad they changed it
(16:12):
to Lonely Planet, so bit of a toss up for me there, but I'll
take the. Loss.
There are some really interesting things.
So did you know Lonely Planet has since printed over 150
million copies worldwide with the Wheelers very first
guidebook back in the very early70s being written on a borrowed
typewriter in an apartment in Melbourne, Australia, which is
pretty cool. I also just off the top of my
(16:33):
head was when I was doing a bit of research about this question,
I think it was back in 2007, they sold 75% to BBC Worldwide.
Did you know that? That isn't, but congratulations
to them. I've heard BBC Worldwide pray
Penny, Yeah. Have you got any idea how much
it was? 5 mil. 5 million for a 75% stake
in Lonely Planet. Yeah, when it was arguably at
(16:55):
it's height it was. It was more like 60-70 million.
10 times why I would have negotiated.
So Congrats to the guys over there at Lonely Planet.
Yeah, the audacity of calling itacross Asia on the trip the
cheap, you know, Fast forward three years.
Yeah, 30 years. Beg your pardon?
Here's our new book, How to Travel Asia if you just made 50
(17:15):
million from the BBC Step one, stay in a.
Hotel. Yeah, get off your first class
flight having down a bottle of champagne.
Wipe the caviar out of the corners of your mouth.
The locals don't like it. #2 themagazine Conde Nast Traveller
historically used the tagline Truth in Travel, but in 2013 the
(17:38):
tagline was redefined as what Isit A the world made local?
Is it B luxury for less? Is it C fashionable wanderlust?
Or is it D the planet in pages? It's either the planet in pages
or luxury for I think it's planet in pages.
I think it's planet in pages. I'll pull the wool over your
(17:59):
eyes, mate. That was one I came up with last
minute. I'm really glad you went for it.
It's actually the world made local.
It's quite a nice tagline, isn'tit?
Oh dear, Adam, Yeah. I mean, I recently tried to get
Tropology featured in Conde Nastand so looked at their pages and
and I can't remember seeing that.
So obviously not very prominent,badly designed.
(18:22):
What do you think of Planet in Pages?
We can copyright that if you want.
I mean, I did just make it up a couple of days ago.
I think it's better than what Conde Nast are doing.
Yeah. Oh, Adam is the developer of
such great travel tag lines likeConde Nast Planet in Pages and
Tripology Travel Podcast. Dear, Oh dear, here we go #3
(18:44):
let's try and get you some points on the board.
I really need to, otherwise my Amazon account is going to look
a little bit. Like I know I could do with a
new book as well. I've only got 3 on the go #3
what is often considered the oldest continuously running
travel magazine still in publication?
Is it? A National Geographic.
Is it B wanderlust, Is it C travel and leisure?
(19:05):
Or is it D Condon S Traveller? It's not Geo baby all the way.
Give me that point and relinquish me of my debt to
Amazon. OK, Yeah, you got one point on
the board, mate. That's a great answer.
Do you want a bonus point to guess the decade that it started
in? Is it the 19 hundreds 1900s
(19:26):
right? No, it's older, but not by much.
I was going to say, OK, I I wanted to just check if that was
the case because I think it's 1890.
It's 1888. My goodness.
It's a great guess. It's a great guess.
I was going to say 1890 off the trot, but I thought if it's
like, really not that I didn't want to appear a bit stupid, you
(19:47):
know? You got to go with your gut
mate. No one thinks you're stupid
that's listening to this. My goodness.
Some people do. I've had a few hurtful messages
recently from listeners saying things exactly like that.
Alan, you're stupid. I got a message from my dad last
week so just listening to the most recent episode.
Alan's not done very well on thetripping points recently, is it?
Really. Did you actually get that
(20:08):
message? Your dad, of course.
One of my greatest critics when it comes to the old intellect
arch. Enemy, that's so funny.
OK, here we go, here we go #4 you'll like this one, mate, you
really will. Jack Kerouac typed the first
draft of On the Road on a singleroll of paper.
Approximately how long did it take him?
(20:29):
Was it a three? Two weeks.
OK. We'll just keep bear that in
mind. A three weeks, B three months, C
six months or D1 year. OK, yeah, three weeks then.
Obviously a huge Jack Kerouac fan.
He was one of the defining reasons why I initially went
travelling and I know that it was a matter of weeks.
He locked himself in his apartment and just wrote and
(20:51):
wrote, and famously his dog ate the end of that scroll that he
wrote on. So you can actually go and see
the scroll in Lille is where he's from.
And then maybe the museum's in Lille as well.
But that's pretty cool. Yeah.
The end of the paper is gone. So three weeks is my answer.
OK, yeah, I mean, you're right, of course you're right.
(21:12):
That's fantastic. And did you know the continuous
scroll was 120 foot long? Kerouac chose to write this way
basically just to not lose the flow and the energy of what it
was he was writing. So how cool is that?
Yeah, I also like Kerouac's writing style.
Gives me a lot of solace when I think, oh, I'd like to write a
(21:32):
travel book. But the investment of time, it
would take us so much, I think, well, Kerouac knocked one out in
three weeks, so it's pretty cool.
Yes, no, I think especially withAI now mate, you'll be fine.
Here we go #5 when the Michelin Guide staff system launched in
1926, what did giving a restaurant one star originally
(21:55):
signify? Was it a worth stopping at?
Was it B culinary excellence? Was it C exceptional service?
Or was it D good value for money?
Yeah, I believe when Michelin started giving out their stars,
they were basically saying that if you receive a Michelin star,
you are worth stopping at, you're worth wearing out your
(22:16):
tyres to go make a journey to. So it's a.
It is. You're right, mate, you're
right. I think that's four points on
the board. Fantastic.
And you just touched on a reallyinteresting point because I
didn't necessarily know this, but the Michelin Guide was
launched back in 1900 and the 1st, 35,000 copies no less, were
given away for free. And this was to encourage people
to drive further, spending more time on the roads, thus wearing
(22:39):
out their tyres more quickly so they could sell more tyres.
It was all part of their master plan.
Quite an insidious marketing strategy from Michelin there,
rivalled only, of course by Swedish giant Spotify, who made
copyright claims unrelentingly on accounts that don't deserve
it. Yeah, we're actually not sure
whether you're gonna be able to hear this, of course, because
(23:01):
this episode might just get deleted like the last one.
Yeah, amazing stuff. Anyway, we've got a couple of
bonus questions. I'll RIP through these pretty
quick #1 Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is a novel based
heavily on the authors own life.Which of these is true about
Roberts journey that inspired the book?
A. He escaped from Australian
prison and fled to India. B He lived in the slums of
(23:23):
Mumbai for several years, or C He became involved with local
organized crime while in exile. Oh I actually haven't read
Shantaram, I just remember in India people were talking about
it a lot. It's a bit of a trick question
this one mate. Is it?
Why? Tell me?
(23:43):
Well, tell me what the trick is and I'll tell you the answer.
Well, no, because the because ifI tell you that you will, you'll
just get it right. I might as well just tell you.
Did he become involved in some organised crime?
The trick 1 is a bit of a curveball.
It's actually all of them. Every single one features in the
book. He's lived a hell of a life
mate. Really incredible stuff.
So it is one of those books. Of course you, the people
(24:04):
listening to the show, have probably read it.
I mean you see it in every single hostel and every single
bookshelf. It's definitely a book that
people say is in the top ten books you must read if you
travel. I haven't read it yet and you
haven't read it yet, so maybe that's something for us to do in
our own timing. There's a genius.
Question and a genius trick. It's that kind of human touch
that makes you know that this show is lovingly curated and not
(24:25):
written by Vagabot. Yeah, he couldn't have written
this last one either, because one thing Vagabot does very well
is come up with a lot of copy inalmost next to no time.
But he doesn't know you as a person, and I do.
So this next question mate, it hasn't got multiple choice but
I'll be surprised if you get it wrong.
No pressure. This is the last question of the
(24:45):
show, which famous travel writersaid if you reject the food,
ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people,
you might better stay home. Anthony Bourdain.
There you go. There you go.
Yeah, amazing. A great line.
(25:06):
It's a great line. Andy Bourdain, of course, passed
away just a very short amount oftime after I started travelling,
but was a huge motivating factorfor me, one of the greatest
travellers of all time, one of the greatest travel writers of
all time, and holds a very special place in my heart there.
Adam as well, in that he helped me evade having to buy you a
(25:27):
book. And of course, now you're going
to read something to me, which is going to be an exciting bit
of Instagram content or something, I imagine.
But now though, Speaking of travel stories, we want the
listeners to have the opportunity to tell us a great
travel story by way of Tales of a trip.
You can head to tripologypodcast.com/tales of a
trip and record 3 minutes of thegreatest travel story that you
(25:51):
have be at the time you jumped into a big waterfall and
survived all the time. You erode a lion through the
savannahs of Africa. That kind of hyperbolic nonsense
is occasionally welcome if it actually is true.
So let's hear what I had to say.Let's go there right now.
(26:15):
Hey Adam, this is one of my moreinteresting experiences while
hiking the Tierra Rowan, which is from the north to South of
New Zealand. It's about a 3000 kilometer hike
and this happened to me in the North Islands.
I was after a day of hiking, I wanted to go and resupply at the
(26:35):
supermarkets so and the supermarket was about 3
kilometers away from the campsite.
So I tried to hitch there and I got a hitch which was pretty
normal as usual. And on the way back, I tried to
get a hitch back again. And this time there were two
guys from the age around 19 and 20 who picked me up.
(26:56):
And they told me we can take youto your campsite, but we first
need to go and get, we first need to go to the liquor store.
So it was just like, Oh yeah, for sure, don't worry about it.
And so they started driving to the liquor store, which was in a
complete different direction andwas on the highway and was about
(27:19):
10 minutes away, even though my campsite was about two minutes
away. So which is awesome.
I'm like, hey, it's everything still all right?
And are we still going to the same campsite?
Yeah. They told me, don't worry, we're
not kidnapping you. So that was kind of reassuring.
And I asked them, oh, what are you guys going to do?
(27:41):
Or are you guys going somewhere special?
And they told me that they were going to play golf and they
asked me if I wanted to join them.
So I said yeah, I will join you.So they drove me back to the
campsite. They dropped off my stuff from
the grocery and I went and played golf with them, which was
(28:03):
a lot of fun. And they shared their beers and
we had a really good time. They even took me to their
dealer and we got some weed after I asked them if they knew
somebody. And the day after they texted me
like, hey, do you want to go on a real, you're seeing that fan
show? And I was just like, yeah, yeah,
(28:24):
for sure. And they picked me up again and
they took me fishing and from the weed that I got the day
before, one of the other TA hikers, he mates edibles, he
mates cookies. And so as a thank you, I gave
them also some of the cookies and we ended up having a really,
(28:45):
really good time. And all of this happened just by
accident. And yeah, and I was a was a lot
of fun and I really enjoy and cherish the moment.
Thank you. Being there, proving that if you
have an open mind and an open heart and you're willing to go
off the be in track and travel via hitchhiking and meeting
(29:09):
strangers and being all open like that, a plethora of drug
based experiences could await you.
Yeah, I do like it. I think what that what that
experience. Well, it sounds like it lasts a
few days. It sort of epitomizes what I
love about travel is if you do just say yes, you can't, you
know, when you first hitchhike, you, you can't possibly imagine
(29:31):
where it's going to end up if you just keep saying yes.
But when you get on with the people you're hitchhiking with,
one thing leads to another before you know, you know, a
couple of days later or whatever, or you maybe the next
day you're teeing off with them playing golf on the same day.
Then you they invite you on a fishing trip and then you're
probably still in touch with those people.
It's it it really is important to to have that sort of open
mind and just, you know, maybe be in the same frame of mind
(29:54):
that remind yourself from time to time.
Not everyone is trying to kidnapyou.
Yeah, it's something that I needto be reminded of, for sure.
I do often in a lot of situations, wonder, is this
person trying to kidnap me? Just today, I was buying a
coffee at the local coffee shop here in Shagao.
And when she handed me a coffee and I gave her money, the
(30:15):
thought did cross my mind. Is this a kidnapping?
No, no, You're just buying coffee.
So I've learned a lesson there from Kayan's message.
Yeah, it's it is a lovely message.
Thanks ever so much for for writing Kim.
We really do appreciate it like you had a wonderful time.
Would you ever walk that sort ofdistance mate?
Few 1000 kilometers through hiking.
I love a long hike. You know one of my life's goals
(30:38):
is to hike the PCT. I do know that and the reason I
have another acronym. Yeah, the Pacific Crest Trail.
The reason I've not done it is because, A, it's like very
expensive, B, we'd have to really be on top of it with
Tripology, because you hike through and then stop at like
rest points. And we could do the show from
there. But if we weren't doing it
(30:59):
together, it would be a big ask for the show.
I yeah, I think we would at thispoint probably have to do it
together. It would have to be a thing that
we did together in order to keepthe show going as regularly as
it as it is the way to. Do it would be to like have 4
episodes done in advance record as we went which is mad because
people saw their toothbrushes inhalf to save weight on the PCT.
(31:21):
So was hiking with these things would be knots.
But we'd have to just take the tape, a toothbrush to the other
end, yeah, and make use of the shaft.
All I make like a rudimentary microphone with like a needle
and some like ceramic film. Yeah, I've got no idea how it
would happen, but I'm sure it ispossible in this day and age to
do podcasts on the PCT. We'll just have to.
We'll just have to try. Yeah, we'd be getting how the
(31:41):
Samsung goes, the old little micbecause that we're used to, yes,
that's for sure. But I think it would be a lot of
fun. So through hiking is something
I'm really interested in. Yeah, it's.
The thing I love about through hiking is that it's, and I know
this is going to sound a little bit cliched, but I think it's
also the the way that Suraj's message made me feel in last
week's episode, which is when you go from point to point or
(32:03):
your journey is weeks or months long, you, you can't have had
the experience at the end without of having, without
having had the experience at thebeginning.
You can't get to where you're going without coming from where
you've been. And I know that that might sound
quite strange, but when you do just walk in One Direction for a
(32:25):
long time, it is just about the stages that you go through and
how you change and the people you meet and the stories you can
tell. Yeah.
And I kind of echo Kayan's feelings there because obviously
the take away for him, the thingthat he's remembered viscerally
is like the warmth from those people after the hike.
And I think that the same with me, like that Everest hike that
(32:45):
I did in Nepal, the most recent like long 21 day through hike.
I think the people that I'm withare the lasting memory, like
they're the thing that I feel like beautiful about.
Yeah, mate, I mean, we really dohave to do some more of that
stuff. It's experiences I would say a
little blind spot perhaps on my travel CV, if you will.
Now I've got a camper van. Now I'm going to be living the
(33:06):
van life for a bit, which was another huge hole in my my
travel experiences, I guess you could call it.
And through hiking is another one.
And yeah, I want to keep going. I want to keep maybe having sort
of a more goal oriented focus tomy travels.
And if you ever want to do the PCT and we're still doing this
(33:27):
award-winning, fantastic, wonderful, gigantic, bloody
influential podcast, then I'd, I'd love to do it with you.
As long as there's no bears, please no bears.
Well, there you go. I'm sure that we will be hearing
more about your hiking adventures as you go on your
Lord of the Rings themed adventures in your camper van,
but for now, it's time that we dash off really, isn't it?
(33:49):
Thank you so much to Cam for sending in a message.
And you guys can do the same by going to
tripologypodcast.com/hazel Trip.3 minutes of your greatest
travel story. Or if you love what we're doing,
you want to support me and Adam in a very wonderful, much needed
way and you want to hear what happens after the theme music
ends in the Lost and Found section.
It's patreon.com/tripology podcast, the greatest Patreon in
(34:12):
all the travel podcast worlds. Join us over the there, but for
now, we'll see you next week. We'll see you there.
Bye.
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