March 29, 2025 • 32 mins
Have you ever played ‘What Are The Odds?’ It’s a game both loved and feared by backpackers the world over. When taken seriously, it can result in some embarrassing but hilarious stories! Tune in to hear Alun’s moment of genius whilst playing the game in an Italian restaurant in Brazil. Challenge accepted!
Alun’s broadcasting from the UK, having returned for a quick family visit, before setting off on yet another adventure. Adam’s back in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, after driving his beloved rental car all the way from Queenstown: 1600kms, 48 hours, one ferry, and nowhere near enough sleep!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I've been driving for three dayssolid.
Play the theme music. Hello and welcome to this
episode of Tripology. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
(00:24):
ever logistical Adam. Alan, mate, that car has become
an extension of myself. I I've just spent so much effing
time in that car and I'll be honest with you, it's getting
pretty difficult. It's getting pretty difficult to
stay awake. Well, give us some context.
You say that car as if you're some sort of vehicular Centaur,
(00:47):
but What Car is it? Where are you?
Yeah, I feel like I know how a transformer feels, let's put it
that way. It's a car that I rented that I
spoke about on the on the last week's episode and I rented it
for originally I think it was about 1617 days, but I made the
decision to extend the vehicle rental.
(01:07):
Now, one thing you will know is that it's much cheaper to rent a
vehicle from the OR to deliver the vehicle back to the same
drop off point that you rent it from.
So as long as the collection point and the delivery point are
exactly the same, you will pay significantly less in New
Zealand, sometimes as much as one or $2000.
You know, in some cases you can choose, you can choose a
(01:28):
different drop off point, which is obviously convenient if
you're going to do a really longroad trip from point A to point
B, but it's going to set you back a couple of farewell and
and I don't have that kind of money.
And driving it back all the way to your origin sounds like a
bargain for someone who loves driving as much as you.
Optimus Prime little character with a backpack.
(01:49):
But do you know what the problemwas?
I was looking at the drive, right?
And you got Google Maps, which is telling you, you know, how
long it's going to take and thatkind of thing.
And just because on paper it wasdoable. 24 hours, by the way.
So I thought, oh, if I average 8hours a day, that's only three
days of driving. As long as I leave Queenstown
by, you know, obviously three days before it needs to be back,
(02:09):
it should be fine. But the reality of driving for
8:00, then what is 10 because ofRd. works, because of lunch
break stops, because of, you know, any other thing that goes
wrong, it's it's probably a regret.
I would say it's a regret. I mean, you know, halfway
through I was thinking, why didn't you just pay the extra
money to drop it off further down the country?
But anyway, who knows? You live in your land.
(02:32):
Well, it's one way to see New Zealand.
I'm imagining you in that vehicle driving about Mount Doom
out of your right window, the Shire out of the left, a Kiwi
bird crossing the road. It sounds like it's such an
effervescently wonderful time, Adam.
But you know, when you are driving locked in the cabinet,
driving around you, it will get tired, it will be hard, it will
(02:53):
be difficult. And I received a panicked text
from you saying we've got an episode of Tropology coming up.
I'm stuck in a car, I'm tired, I've not slept, I've not done
anything really apart from driveon this vehicular highway.
And I thought, well, what shouldwe talk about on Tropology?
Because I've had a wild time as well.
It's been all hectic and crazy, so I thought, there's one thing
(03:16):
I like to do. It's sort of some people call it
a sabotage, some people say it'sthe worst thing that Tripology's
ever cooked up. But I've got a story from back
in my time in Brazil, and I wantto crowbar it into an Allen's
Miscellaneous Travel item. Amazing mate, I cannot wait.
(03:48):
This is if it's not my favorite item, it's definitely my
favorite theme tune. Yeah, the theme tune is nice,
isn't it? That's a real genuine human
singer made of flesh and bones, singing a song for us here at
Tripology. And I think they're wonderfully
talented. Alan's miscellaneous travel.
I am. It's essentially a vehicle for
us to talk about whatever we want in the travel space, much
(04:10):
like we do on every show, exceptthere's an element of narcissism
to it. It's my travel item.
Listen to me. So Adam, something happened to
me in Brazil. That was it had the
capabilities, it had all the ingredients to shake a human
being to their very core. It had the possibility of
(04:32):
rendering me never quite the same again.
And I want to know what you think about it.
I want to know what you would do.
I want to tell you the story. And I want the tripological
audience, when they're hearing it, to really feel the gravity,
the stress, the pain, the terrorof the situation.
And we'll go from there, OK? Yeah, yeah.
My goodness. God, this sounds grave.
This sounds like a serious storythat I would have expected to
(04:55):
already know. But lo and behold, we've got a
podcast and you can broadcast itlive.
Sometimes when terrible things happen to me, I sort them into
categories. Near death experience.
Alan's miscellaneous travel life.
This fell on the latter side of the fence, so I'm looking
forward to sharing with you. Now let me lay out some context.
Okay, wicked, looking forward toit.
Oh, I'm a bit scared actually tobe honest.
(05:17):
But I'm looking forward to. It I'm a man who likes to eat.
And I gathered a couple of friends, one of whom I knew, one
of whom I didn't know. And we thought, let's go to a
restaurant. But it was one of our last days
in Itakari, so we thought, let'sgo to a fancy restaurant, let's
have an Italian meal. Now I know what you're thinking.
(05:38):
Italian in Brazil, you absolute uncultured swine.
Yeah, because it's you. You always get a free pass.
That goes without saying. I mean, you can do whatever you
want all the time and you will always get a free pass.
May maybe that's a mistake I'm making, but I would say that
something as iconic as a pizza that you know, let's, let's be
(06:00):
honest, there are some fantasticexamples around the world, some
Italian food being cooked in great places.
Brazil known for its food? Maybe it does good Italian as
well. No, but but you know, sometimes
you just, you're out with some people.
Everyone sort of fancied this Italian.
We walked past it every day on our way to surfing.
We thought, let's treat ourselves.
(06:21):
I actually messaged you frantically while I was sat at
the Italian. I remember because I wanted you
to help choose wine for. Us, you know, I even when I
found that text because I didn'trespond right away, did I am
sorry that I didn't see the textuntil later on.
I thought to myself, this is what this has all been worth it.
You know, the 10 years in the wine industry, all of my
(06:42):
studies, my qualifications, the tastings, just to, just to know
that you care about my opinion when it comes to something like
wine. It's, you know, brought a smile
to my face and I'm shame, I'm ashamed to say I couldn't be of
any help. Well, I echoed a very similar
sentiment. Past tense echoed because you
let me down a little bit. I was sat on that table with,
(07:03):
you know, attractive people who I, you know, enjoyed the company
of. And I said, don't worry about
the choosing the wine guys. I've got a bit of a connection
here. I don't know if you've heard of
Tripology podcast, but down there he's kind of my best
friend and he knows everything about wine.
So I'll let him choose the wine list.
Just bear with me. He always texts back straight
(07:24):
away. I bet.
We waited quite a long time, quite a long time for you to
text back, my friend. It was getting a little bit
awkward. People were complaining that
they were hungry. People were like, oh, should we
just choose anywhere? I was like, no, no, Adam will
get back to us. No, no such message ever came.
(07:45):
We chose whatever bottle of winewe did a little, you know, just
chose 1 randomly. OK, Yeah.
What people tend to do in this situation is they'll look at the
cheapest and then they'll look at the most expensive, and then
they'll go back up towards wherethe cheapest wines are and
they'll usually choose the second or third one down.
That was it. Yeah.
Second thirty. Oh, that little one.
(08:06):
Beautiful, delicious red treat. That does sound Italian.
Yeah, yeah. So we chose a random wine that
came. We were enjoying a meal.
Now one of the features of this Italian restaurant is that there
was a live band playing music, like serenading the diners with
(08:26):
gorgeous Brazilian themes, sometimes with a cheeky Italian
twist. It was that very high level live
music. A singer with a keyboard player
and a saxophone and something. Drums, yeah.
OK, yeah, yeah, I'm picturing itwell.
You can imagine it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool. You know what all those
(08:46):
instruments are? You can imagine people playing
them. You'll imagine those sat down in
a posh Italian restaurant. The scene is set.
Drinking a nondescript wine thatno one wanted.
Exactly. Yeah.
Have you ever played the game? What are the odds?
I think I have. I think I have.
So correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just going to go in and explain
(09:08):
the version that I I'm aware of.Yeah, and if it's the wrong
version, we'll just explain the correct one afterwards.
Because I want to be involved. I want to have played a game
that other backpackers play because famously, I don't play
any games. I understand.
Yeah. And so basically someone will
say, what are the odds that you're going to do this, this or
(09:28):
this? And then if yeah, do they then
get given like a, a bracket sortof a it's either 1 to 20 and you
have to guess the right number. And if you get it right, you got
to, you got to do it. Exactly.
Pick your own number. So if you really don't want to
do something, you say, oh, the odds are one in a million, you
go 321, both say a number. And if you land by fucking pure
(09:50):
happenstance on the same number,then you have to do the thing.
So we could play a game now, Adam, for example.
OK, what are the odds you book aflight immediately to where I am
from, New Zealand, and we just meet each other tomorrow?
50 to 150. To 1, so we go 32163 exactly
(10:10):
right. So it's a shame you don't have
to get on a plane. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, 5050 to one, that's about fair.
But yeah, OK, we understand. Yeah, yeah.
So we're there. We've got our wine, we're
waiting for our food. And my friend says to me, a
Frenchman, OK, he goes. What are the odds that you get
up and like, take the microphoneand do a song?
(10:36):
OK, All right. And you do have a very good
voice. You're a musician and a
performer. So I I think no, no, no, no.
It's just not not the. Well, but, but contextually,
this is a band that's been paid to play at a restaurant.
They're doing a set and it wouldbe so wildly inappropriate for
(10:59):
anyone to get involved. So basically I say the odds are
like 50 to one. I said, OK, same as you actually
said about New Zealand, right? Like high odds, No chance.
I'm not going to do that. It would be really
inappropriate, yeah. Yeah, no, I totally get that.
I mean, it would just be maybe slightly lower odds for you
because of the things I just mentioned, whereas I would
(11:22):
probably say 1000 to one becausethere's absolutely no way I'd
get up on that stage even if I was on my own.
Right. Yeah.
So I backed myself as a musicianand I went 50 to one, Baby.
I'm ready to go. OK, gotcha.
Gotcha. So 50 to one.
That's still pretty. High and then we go, we start
counting down, we go 32 and on about two.
Everything went into slow motion, he was like I could see
(11:47):
the Frenchman staring at me and I like saw a little glimmer in
his eye like he was reaching into my soul and pulling out a
number. I felt a deep sense of
trepidation as he both at the same time.
I couldn't stop it. I was moving my lips and he was
echoing every movement and we both at the same time went 27.
(12:08):
Oh my God. And now look, I'm a man who
there was no chance. As soon as we said the same
number, there was no chance I wasn't doing this.
And as a result of that, my bodyimmediately had the fight or
flight response of having to go and do it.
So straight away I start like sweating.
I'm like, oh God, no. Like I'm starting to barter with
(12:31):
myself. I'm starting to like try and
figure it out. It was horrible immediately
because I knew we both said 27. That means I've got to go get
that microphone, I've got to geton that stage, I've got to do a
song. Oh my God, that's incredible.
That is incredible. I mean, like, hats off to you
though, mate, because there are probably the vast majority of
(12:53):
people would still say the correct number and then they
would back out immediately. They'd go, Oh yeah.
But look, fellow, come on. I mean, it's ridiculous.
We were joking, right? What are the chances, really?
Well, actually about 27 to one apparently. 50 to one, yeah, one
in 50 chance. But The thing is, we've kind of
prefaced this by saying I'm a musician.
So all that sort of stuff. There are some people that would
(13:16):
have no problem going and askingto do a song, and they might
even quite enjoy it. But let's just look at the
facts. I'm not a singer.
I play the bass guitar. I don't know any songs.
I don't know any songs through to completion.
I don't know the lyrics to any songs.
I don't know I don't know how toplay any songs.
Man, once I once played guitar for for an old people's home
(13:40):
like 3 years ago and I learned aCat Stevens song.
But apart from that I'm like rocking my brains thinking do I
know all the words of that song even would they know how to play
that song? Probably not.
So what am I going to do at fucking acapella?
It was, it was a nightmare, man.I'm like, like absolutely.
Like I don't know what to do. I don't do songs, man.
(14:01):
And I'm suddenly I'm here in this restaurant and I've got to
get up on stage and sing. It's horrible.
It's so sweet. I really feel like you're you're
backed into a corner and I wish I was there with you, but I
don't know what I would have suggested, honestly.
I mean, I probably would have jumped in and said he's not
doing it. If he doesn't want to do it, he
doesn't have to do it. So I know you would have still
gone the. French guy, he said.
(14:24):
Dude, this is fuck. You absolutely don't have to do
it, don't worry. You've already shit yourself on
a bus. I mean, you don't.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. He goes, He goes, this is too.
This is too much like it's a freak accident.
We both know what are the odds. It's like, oh, what are the
odds? It's a fun game, don't worry
about it. I said no, that's not how the
game works. You gave me a chance.
(14:45):
I could have said one in 100,000, I could have said one
in a million, but I decided to say one in 50.
Those were the odds. That's it.
And I want to call out if anyonein the tropological audience has
ever gone back on a what are theodds game.
What kind of human being are you?
Because those were the odds. Do you know what I mean?
(15:08):
Yeah, well, well, what did you think?
It's like it's maybe quite low impact.
What was giving you the most anxiety?
Was it actually performing a song or was it negotiating or,
you know, entering into talks with the band?
Well, that was also another layer.
Yeah. Well, they knew that they didn't
speak. They just spoke Portuguese,
right. Pretty much.
That was likely. And the biggest anxiety was the
(15:31):
fact I didn't know what to do. Like I didn't know how to get
through a song. I had no idea.
But there was a moment where I had, you know, like when you've
got a problem to solve, you're in a high pressure situation.
Sometimes your brain pulls some wonderful shit out of the bag.
And I was sat there drinking my wine, little bead of sweat
dripping down my brow, and I thought, Oh my God, I've got it.
(15:55):
Oh my God, I have got it. And my anxiety turned to
excitement, Adam, excitement because I'd be in the game and
I'd won that. It was all perfect.
I knew exactly what to do. I got up, I tipped my spaghetti
on the and I got up to the to the band and I said one of the
most genius things I've ever hadthe joy of saying.
(16:19):
So I reveal after a meditation break.
I think we all need to take a brief like moment to relax.
I think so. I think so.
Let's go on a brief meditation break.
Do you love the podcast as much as we love you?
Please could you take the time to rate the show on your
favorite podcasting platform? Yeah, go and give it five stars.
Everyone else has. We're just waiting on you.
(16:41):
Thanks for supporting us, it means the world to us.
Like a plate of spaghetti tumbling to the floor, allow
your conscious mind to return into your brain as I am there
striding up to the band with my plan in hand.
What? What do you do in this
situation, Adam? What?
What's your like Go to? So, well, just talk to me about
(17:04):
where we are. So you're asking me what do I do
from the very beginning? Or what do I do when I've
already said the correct number and now have to deal with the
the fallout? You've landed yourself in a what
are the odd situation? Yeah.
OK, so there's been a couple of what are the odds that I've lost
or won? Depending on how you know what
your perspective is. They usually involve getting
naked. So, you know, I would say the
(17:28):
stakes are probably lower depending on the the environment
surrounding environment. If I had to sing a song, I would
I would try and get out my own way.
I think I would be my goodness, would I be embarrassed.
But you know, I was, I was looking at some people recently
on a dance floor and I, I was enjoying myself, right?
(17:50):
I was sort of standing on the edge of a dance floor and just
perusing and having a little look around everyone enjoying
themselves. And I, I landed on a couple of
guys that were going hell for leather.
I mean, they were really grooving, shaking and moving
hands in their air or hands in the air.
Obviously they were drunk. And I thought, my goodness, they
can't dance at all. They've got absolutely no
rhythm. And then this little voice
(18:11):
entered my head and it's and they said, but they're having
more fun than you are, so what'sit fucking matter?
And you know, and I, I just checked myself and I thought,
yeah, two, right. So in that situation, mate, I
would employ those tactics and I'd go, look, you're going to
embarrass yourself quite probably.
But just give them how they enjoy.
It do you think that those two dancers and employed their tiny
(18:32):
friends to go up behind people and whisper that to them as they
look judgmentally on a little voice came to me.
It was her mate Benjamin behind having more fun than you.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know, man,I wouldn't have liked to be in
that situation at all. I would have tried to avoid it
(18:53):
at all costs. Dare I say.
I might have even taken the French man up on his offer to
retract any sort of you know, but but I I love the fact that
you went through with it. I hope you did.
I mean, we haven't heard the endof story, but.
I go up to the the one who looked like the ringleader, the
guy with a microphone and a keyboard, and I say.
Just epic. Yeah, I said.
(19:16):
Hello, Sir. I it's my friend's birthday.
I pointed at the Frenchman from across the room.
I said I would love the opportunity to sing him Happy
birthday. And they went birthday and I
said yes, birthday. Do you know how to play happy
(19:36):
birthday? And then I took the microphone
and I went and sang happy birthday to piano music to
everything. And I sang happy birthday
directly to the Frenchman from start to finish.
And that is a song, Adam. That is the song of happy
birthday. It is.
(19:57):
I think it's actually the most famous song in the world, maybe
the most played, and it's copyrighted I believe.
But. No one can deny it, but isn't
that the perfect solution? Isn't that the ideal way to get
out of that situation? It's a song that is very, very
brief, very, very well known. Undeniably a song.
(20:18):
Everyone knows it. It transcends language barriers.
It embarrassed the French man a little bit because I was singing
it to him and we got a free slice of cake.
No, I think, I think, you know, even if you'd given me hours and
hours and hours to come up with something, I wouldn't have
thought of anything that was more genius than that.
Yeah, it's appropriate on all fronts.
(20:39):
I'm sure you did a fantastic job.
And I'm. And I hope it was fun.
I mean, was it fun in the end? Restaurants start singing you
along. That's the thing of a happy
birthday. So I didn't wasn't even exposed
because everyone was like, I really got everyone involved.
There was a happy birthday became a backing alien affair.
It was brilliant, man. The French guy was more
embarrassed than me. I went into sort of like a mode
(21:00):
with it. I was like insane.
And afterwards I said, right nowhere's Cat Stevens.
No, no, I didn't. But it was, man, I think it was
just the perfect solution. It really got me out of the
situation, you know? Yeah.
No, no, no. That's awesome.
Did you continue to play? What are the odds after that or
is that do you, have you checkedout now?
Is that you sort of hanging yourboots up as it were?
(21:21):
I think that's. Probably my greatest What are
the odds? Victory.
I don't think I'll be able to reach those heights again, but I
am, I'm open to coming out of retirement.
If maybe a Tripology listener sees me in the wild, maybe come
at me with a what are the odds? I'd be willing to play for the
right stake, you know? And I always come through on my
(21:43):
what are the odds? Victories and my losses.
So if you do come at me, expect some retaliatory fire, Yeah.
Well, let's just talk a little bit about what the odds because
it is something that is played often by backpackers.
And if we can try and I don't know, sort of perpetuate this
culture of making sure that thatyou go through with what are the
(22:03):
odds If you're, if you're going to play it, you know, know the
rules and go through with it. Much in the same way you might
go 100% at a costume party. Yeah.
You know, costume parties, fancydress, they're amazing.
When everyone goes all in, invariably there are a couple of
people that are they got the invitation late or they couldn't
think of anything or they just don't give 2 shits.
(22:24):
But you know when when people goall out, when they are people of
their word, it's amazing the results and you've always got.
The option not to play that's the thing about what are the
odds you can always say I don't want to play what are the odds
but the second you open that door and you go 017 million,
there's always a chance There's always a chance So be careful be
(22:45):
careful what you say the odds are and and be come through with
your delivery yeah, yeah, you better have a.
Happy birthday up your sleeve. That's amazing man, I loved it.
I wish I was there. I Is there a video?
Is there a video somewhere on the Internet that we can see?
One might. Exist one might exist.
I reckon that on some sort of strangers TikTok or something
(23:07):
that I've posted sort of Britishman plays happy birthday to
French onlookers. Maybe Google some search terms
but I don't know. I certainly didn't take one.
One of my friends took one, but you never know what's out there
on the Internet. So there we go mate.
Since then I've added a real wild time.
I got on a plane, obviously I'd left Brazil.
(23:28):
I'm doing a little pit stop out here in the UK because I've got
some big adventures planned for 2025.
Sometimes you need to, don't you?
Sometimes I looked at my bag, I looked at my clothes, I looked
at my toiletries situation and Ithought, do you know what, man?
I just need a fucking delivery. So I'm here in the UK, getting
(23:49):
resupplied, getting some new stuff, getting everything fixed,
and I'm going to be ready to go again soon.
Yeah, I like the. Sound of that, mate.
And just doing stuff like that, it really does does set you up
for success, doesn't it? In the future.
I mean, it's maybe logistically not the easiest thing to do, but
sometimes I know what it's like back home.
You can get, as you've said, allyour deliveries, even if you've
(24:11):
got to do some life admin stuff,quality of life stuff like go to
a doctor's, go to a dentist, allthis kind of thing.
It's it's really difficult to keep up with that sort of stuff
when when you're travelling fulltime.
What are you trying? To say, what are you trying to
say about my teeth or my health?I'm in tip top shape, Adam.
It's just the logistical things like toiletries and clothes.
I don't need to go to the doctors.
(24:31):
I don't need to go to the dentist.
Everything's fine. Well.
I, I actually went to the doctors a few times when I was
in India and I remember learningabout the system there because
it's, it's rapid. If you, I, I know there's such a
thing as health tourism, which I, I'm not sure, you know, we're
encouraging right now. But I remember speaking to a
friend of mine saying that I, I might go and see a doctor and
(24:52):
they said, yeah, you just phone them up.
You'll probably be there in halfan hour.
I was like, yeah, sure. They were like, no, no,
seriously. You can, you can just phone them
up and you'll probably get an appointment within half an hour.
And I couldn't even get there inhalf an hour.
It was amazing. Really.
Yeah, often. Times these sorts of things are
much more convenient in other places on the pay as you go
level, aren't they? It's like one of those things
about travelling. Sometimes you can get things
(25:13):
done easier away, sometimes it'seasier to come home.
I used to see travel as like this marathon thing where I'd go
as long as I can with the money that I have, keep on going, no
coming back. But now I think like, even if
you're in a marathon, you're allowed to stop at a water
station, splash some cold stuff on your face.
So I come home to the UK for a few weeks, just resupply,
restart, recuperate, have some home cooking and then blast off
(25:36):
again. There's no harm in doing that,
you know. No, not at.
All and much like you like what you've just sort of said there,
I've been thinking recently about sustainability and
sustainable travel and keeping this thing going for a long time
And you know, when it comes to getting jobs, earning money and
then quitting the jobs and spending all that money, maybe
the Holy Grail is sort of some digital nomad hybrid type thing,
(25:58):
passive income if that's ever inour future.
But when I look back and think that every single year or, you
know, every six month period, I thought you can't keep doing
this. It's not sustainable.
Well, we've now been on the roadfor 10, nearly eleven years.
So it it kind of is. Yeah.
You need to. Take some breaks and you know
what as well, there's some good stuff in the UK.
(26:19):
I've had a quite a good time. I went all the way to London.
I stayed with a friend in London, went to the British
Museum, the National History Museum, the National Art
Gallery. There's like a lot of fun stuff
to see. You can see all the stolen shit
that we've accumulated from other countries.
You know, so many times, like when I was in when I was in
(26:40):
Athens and when I was in Egypt and when I was, so often you see
a plaque saying, oh, this is where the bust of Ramses the
second would be, but for the fact it's in the British Museum.
Oh, here where these beautiful marble statues, the marbles of
Elisa's would be, but. But for the fact they're in the
British Museum. So it's nice to go and see them
(27:00):
in the British Museum, isn't it?And think, oh, wouldn't that
look good in that place that I once was?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, totally.
I mean, do we know what's happening in the back end there?
Do we know sort of the the bilateral agreements or maybe
there's a contract? They're just stolen, Adam.
There is no bilateral agreement or contract.
They're just taken. There was a big Easter Island
head in the British Museum looking all noble, and it
(27:22):
literally said on a plaque underneath.
Yeah, We took this way back whenEaster Island has sent a
committee asking for it back andthey brought a pot of dirt that
it came from as an offering. And here's the pot of dirt as
well. We took that and all get away.
(27:42):
Yeah. God, there's a, there's a famous
James Acaster bit actually, where he goes.
Sorry, we're still looking at it.
Yeah. Exactly.
They are still looking at it. I was looking at it and yeah,
probably not. OK.
That really isn't it. If you deeply, deeply think
about it, probably not that coolof us.
I went to the National Art Gallery as well.
(28:03):
You know what I find funny aboutthat is that everyone looks at
the piece of art that they thinkthey're supposed to look at.
It's remarkable, right? Yeah.
So go on. Is there one specific piece of
art you're talking about? Well, in in the National.
Art gallery. There's like Van Gogh
sunflowers, right? And you walk into that room and
people are literally walking up to it, taking a photo, staring
(28:23):
for a moment, and then fucking off in in a manner that can only
be described as absolutely mental because it's just the one
that they've heard of. They don't care about it.
There's an objectively better Van Gogh 2 feet to the right of
it, but I didn't see one person even glance at, but because
because they've seen some flowers, heard of it as a vague
(28:44):
cultural reference, they just golook at.
I think I've seen that now and then move on to another place
and it makes me think I see thata lot when when I'm travelling
in general. People looking at Machu Picchu
exclusively through the lens of their phone.
People going up to the Taj Mahal, pinching the top of it
(29:04):
and leaving through the exit is this weird, weird, like genre of
travel and tourism. I really just don't relate to
it. It's all.
I don't get it. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. How long do you need to have
looked at a painting or, or of, you know, a beautiful Vista or
anything before you can then move on to say you've sort of
seen it? Why are you doing?
Things because you're supposed to do them all the time.
(29:25):
Why? Why are you trying to do things
that you're supposed to do? Do things that you want to do?
If you don't want to come to theNational go, you don't have to
go. You don't need to go to National
go if you're not interested in it, Why are you just looking at
the thing that everyone's told you you're supposed to be
interested in? Do something else.
Yeah, I think that. Question probably extends much
further than just travel though,doesn't it?
I think a lot of people are doing what they think they're
(29:45):
supposed to do as opposed to what they actually want to do.
Yeah, I guess. And they're showing that picture
to someone else and they're going, oh, you'll never guess
what I saw. It's that painting that you've
also heard of. It's vank of sunflowers.
Or is it just they're on their phone?
What are they doing with it? Yeah, Yeah.
Well, I. Mean, also the experience when I
was at the Louvre, I saw the Mona Lisa, obviously.
And I remember walking into the room.
(30:06):
I'm not sure I even knew that itwas there, to be honest with
you. And there were, you know, let's
say 100 people huddled around it, some people trying to
stretch their arm over the top and take a photo.
And I just thought the experience of trying to even
view it at any distance where I can, like, discern what the
textures are like on the painting, you know, now and all
(30:28):
this sort of stuff and see the detail.
I just thought it looks horrible.
It looks horrible to be in that crowd vying for a position.
So I just thought, oh fuck it. Yeah.
Moved on. Yeah, man.
People will always take pictures, the Mona Lisa will
always be busy and nomadic. Matt ain't even that nomadic. 3
pillars of truthful travel. Facts that can never, ever be
(30:49):
changed and will always be perpetually true.
Oh, what a lovely episode of Tripology podcast.
On the next episode, we're goingto hear more of our New Zealand.
It's going to be a great plethora of adventures from your
side of the fence. We've got an Instagram account
at Tripology Podcast and a website, tripologypodcast.com.
You can send us an e-mail there to the hostel common room.
(31:11):
We'll actually reply, me or Adam, We'll sit at our computer
and go, oh, here's a nice reply to that e-mail.
Yeah, wonderful stuff, mate. And now we're going to go off to
the Lost and Found section on patreon.com/tropology podcast
where I'm going to tell a littlestory to Alan about some
lighting equipment and a very shrewd Chinese businessman.
Oh my God. Let's learn about it costs only
(31:33):
a dollar or something like that.If you go to patreon.com, you
can find out exactly how much itcosts and we will see you next
week. We'll see you there.
Bye. Can you show?
Me what is? True if I don't know.
What life is true in my heart ofmy life?
(32:10):
Can you show me?
I've been driving for three dayssolid.
Play the theme music. Hello and welcome to this
episode of Tripology. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
(00:24):
ever logistical Adam. Alan, mate, that car has become
an extension of myself. I I've just spent so much effing
time in that car and I'll be honest with you, it's getting
pretty difficult. It's getting pretty difficult to
stay awake. Well, give us some context.
You say that car as if you're some sort of vehicular Centaur,
(00:47):
but What Car is it? Where are you?
Yeah, I feel like I know how a transformer feels, let's put it
that way. It's a car that I rented that I
spoke about on the on the last week's episode and I rented it
for originally I think it was about 1617 days, but I made the
decision to extend the vehicle rental.
(01:07):
Now, one thing you will know is that it's much cheaper to rent a
vehicle from the OR to deliver the vehicle back to the same
drop off point that you rent it from.
So as long as the collection point and the delivery point are
exactly the same, you will pay significantly less in New
Zealand, sometimes as much as one or $2000.
You know, in some cases you can choose, you can choose a
(01:28):
different drop off point, which is obviously convenient if
you're going to do a really longroad trip from point A to point
B, but it's going to set you back a couple of farewell and
and I don't have that kind of money.
And driving it back all the way to your origin sounds like a
bargain for someone who loves driving as much as you.
Optimus Prime little character with a backpack.
(01:49):
But do you know what the problemwas?
I was looking at the drive, right?
And you got Google Maps, which is telling you, you know, how
long it's going to take and thatkind of thing.
And just because on paper it wasdoable. 24 hours, by the way.
So I thought, oh, if I average 8hours a day, that's only three
days of driving. As long as I leave Queenstown
by, you know, obviously three days before it needs to be back,
(02:09):
it should be fine. But the reality of driving for
8:00, then what is 10 because ofRd. works, because of lunch
break stops, because of, you know, any other thing that goes
wrong, it's it's probably a regret.
I would say it's a regret. I mean, you know, halfway
through I was thinking, why didn't you just pay the extra
money to drop it off further down the country?
But anyway, who knows? You live in your land.
(02:32):
Well, it's one way to see New Zealand.
I'm imagining you in that vehicle driving about Mount Doom
out of your right window, the Shire out of the left, a Kiwi
bird crossing the road. It sounds like it's such an
effervescently wonderful time, Adam.
But you know, when you are driving locked in the cabinet,
driving around you, it will get tired, it will be hard, it will
(02:53):
be difficult. And I received a panicked text
from you saying we've got an episode of Tropology coming up.
I'm stuck in a car, I'm tired, I've not slept, I've not done
anything really apart from driveon this vehicular highway.
And I thought, well, what shouldwe talk about on Tropology?
Because I've had a wild time as well.
It's been all hectic and crazy, so I thought, there's one thing
(03:16):
I like to do. It's sort of some people call it
a sabotage, some people say it'sthe worst thing that Tripology's
ever cooked up. But I've got a story from back
in my time in Brazil, and I wantto crowbar it into an Allen's
Miscellaneous Travel item. Amazing mate, I cannot wait.
(03:48):
This is if it's not my favorite item, it's definitely my
favorite theme tune. Yeah, the theme tune is nice,
isn't it? That's a real genuine human
singer made of flesh and bones, singing a song for us here at
Tripology. And I think they're wonderfully
talented. Alan's miscellaneous travel.
I am. It's essentially a vehicle for
us to talk about whatever we want in the travel space, much
(04:10):
like we do on every show, exceptthere's an element of narcissism
to it. It's my travel item.
Listen to me. So Adam, something happened to
me in Brazil. That was it had the
capabilities, it had all the ingredients to shake a human
being to their very core. It had the possibility of
(04:32):
rendering me never quite the same again.
And I want to know what you think about it.
I want to know what you would do.
I want to tell you the story. And I want the tripological
audience, when they're hearing it, to really feel the gravity,
the stress, the pain, the terrorof the situation.
And we'll go from there, OK? Yeah, yeah.
My goodness. God, this sounds grave.
This sounds like a serious storythat I would have expected to
(04:55):
already know. But lo and behold, we've got a
podcast and you can broadcast itlive.
Sometimes when terrible things happen to me, I sort them into
categories. Near death experience.
Alan's miscellaneous travel life.
This fell on the latter side of the fence, so I'm looking
forward to sharing with you. Now let me lay out some context.
Okay, wicked, looking forward toit.
Oh, I'm a bit scared actually tobe honest.
(05:17):
But I'm looking forward to. It I'm a man who likes to eat.
And I gathered a couple of friends, one of whom I knew, one
of whom I didn't know. And we thought, let's go to a
restaurant. But it was one of our last days
in Itakari, so we thought, let'sgo to a fancy restaurant, let's
have an Italian meal. Now I know what you're thinking.
(05:38):
Italian in Brazil, you absolute uncultured swine.
Yeah, because it's you. You always get a free pass.
That goes without saying. I mean, you can do whatever you
want all the time and you will always get a free pass.
May maybe that's a mistake I'm making, but I would say that
something as iconic as a pizza that you know, let's, let's be
(06:00):
honest, there are some fantasticexamples around the world, some
Italian food being cooked in great places.
Brazil known for its food? Maybe it does good Italian as
well. No, but but you know, sometimes
you just, you're out with some people.
Everyone sort of fancied this Italian.
We walked past it every day on our way to surfing.
We thought, let's treat ourselves.
(06:21):
I actually messaged you frantically while I was sat at
the Italian. I remember because I wanted you
to help choose wine for. Us, you know, I even when I
found that text because I didn'trespond right away, did I am
sorry that I didn't see the textuntil later on.
I thought to myself, this is what this has all been worth it.
You know, the 10 years in the wine industry, all of my
(06:42):
studies, my qualifications, the tastings, just to, just to know
that you care about my opinion when it comes to something like
wine. It's, you know, brought a smile
to my face and I'm shame, I'm ashamed to say I couldn't be of
any help. Well, I echoed a very similar
sentiment. Past tense echoed because you
let me down a little bit. I was sat on that table with,
(07:03):
you know, attractive people who I, you know, enjoyed the company
of. And I said, don't worry about
the choosing the wine guys. I've got a bit of a connection
here. I don't know if you've heard of
Tripology podcast, but down there he's kind of my best
friend and he knows everything about wine.
So I'll let him choose the wine list.
Just bear with me. He always texts back straight
(07:24):
away. I bet.
We waited quite a long time, quite a long time for you to
text back, my friend. It was getting a little bit
awkward. People were complaining that
they were hungry. People were like, oh, should we
just choose anywhere? I was like, no, no, Adam will
get back to us. No, no such message ever came.
(07:45):
We chose whatever bottle of winewe did a little, you know, just
chose 1 randomly. OK, Yeah.
What people tend to do in this situation is they'll look at the
cheapest and then they'll look at the most expensive, and then
they'll go back up towards wherethe cheapest wines are and
they'll usually choose the second or third one down.
That was it. Yeah.
Second thirty. Oh, that little one.
(08:06):
Beautiful, delicious red treat. That does sound Italian.
Yeah, yeah. So we chose a random wine that
came. We were enjoying a meal.
Now one of the features of this Italian restaurant is that there
was a live band playing music, like serenading the diners with
(08:26):
gorgeous Brazilian themes, sometimes with a cheeky Italian
twist. It was that very high level live
music. A singer with a keyboard player
and a saxophone and something. Drums, yeah.
OK, yeah, yeah, I'm picturing itwell.
You can imagine it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool. You know what all those
(08:46):
instruments are? You can imagine people playing
them. You'll imagine those sat down in
a posh Italian restaurant. The scene is set.
Drinking a nondescript wine thatno one wanted.
Exactly. Yeah.
Have you ever played the game? What are the odds?
I think I have. I think I have.
So correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just going to go in and explain
(09:08):
the version that I I'm aware of.Yeah, and if it's the wrong
version, we'll just explain the correct one afterwards.
Because I want to be involved. I want to have played a game
that other backpackers play because famously, I don't play
any games. I understand.
Yeah. And so basically someone will
say, what are the odds that you're going to do this, this or
(09:28):
this? And then if yeah, do they then
get given like a, a bracket sortof a it's either 1 to 20 and you
have to guess the right number. And if you get it right, you got
to, you got to do it. Exactly.
Pick your own number. So if you really don't want to
do something, you say, oh, the odds are one in a million, you
go 321, both say a number. And if you land by fucking pure
(09:50):
happenstance on the same number,then you have to do the thing.
So we could play a game now, Adam, for example.
OK, what are the odds you book aflight immediately to where I am
from, New Zealand, and we just meet each other tomorrow?
50 to 150. To 1, so we go 32163 exactly
(10:10):
right. So it's a shame you don't have
to get on a plane. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, 5050 to one, that's about fair.
But yeah, OK, we understand. Yeah, yeah.
So we're there. We've got our wine, we're
waiting for our food. And my friend says to me, a
Frenchman, OK, he goes. What are the odds that you get
up and like, take the microphoneand do a song?
(10:36):
OK, All right. And you do have a very good
voice. You're a musician and a
performer. So I I think no, no, no, no.
It's just not not the. Well, but, but contextually,
this is a band that's been paid to play at a restaurant.
They're doing a set and it wouldbe so wildly inappropriate for
(10:59):
anyone to get involved. So basically I say the odds are
like 50 to one. I said, OK, same as you actually
said about New Zealand, right? Like high odds, No chance.
I'm not going to do that. It would be really
inappropriate, yeah. Yeah, no, I totally get that.
I mean, it would just be maybe slightly lower odds for you
because of the things I just mentioned, whereas I would
(11:22):
probably say 1000 to one becausethere's absolutely no way I'd
get up on that stage even if I was on my own.
Right. Yeah.
So I backed myself as a musicianand I went 50 to one, Baby.
I'm ready to go. OK, gotcha.
Gotcha. So 50 to one.
That's still pretty. High and then we go, we start
counting down, we go 32 and on about two.
Everything went into slow motion, he was like I could see
(11:47):
the Frenchman staring at me and I like saw a little glimmer in
his eye like he was reaching into my soul and pulling out a
number. I felt a deep sense of
trepidation as he both at the same time.
I couldn't stop it. I was moving my lips and he was
echoing every movement and we both at the same time went 27.
(12:08):
Oh my God. And now look, I'm a man who
there was no chance. As soon as we said the same
number, there was no chance I wasn't doing this.
And as a result of that, my bodyimmediately had the fight or
flight response of having to go and do it.
So straight away I start like sweating.
I'm like, oh God, no. Like I'm starting to barter with
(12:31):
myself. I'm starting to like try and
figure it out. It was horrible immediately
because I knew we both said 27. That means I've got to go get
that microphone, I've got to geton that stage, I've got to do a
song. Oh my God, that's incredible.
That is incredible. I mean, like, hats off to you
though, mate, because there are probably the vast majority of
(12:53):
people would still say the correct number and then they
would back out immediately. They'd go, Oh yeah.
But look, fellow, come on. I mean, it's ridiculous.
We were joking, right? What are the chances, really?
Well, actually about 27 to one apparently. 50 to one, yeah, one
in 50 chance. But The thing is, we've kind of
prefaced this by saying I'm a musician.
So all that sort of stuff. There are some people that would
(13:16):
have no problem going and askingto do a song, and they might
even quite enjoy it. But let's just look at the
facts. I'm not a singer.
I play the bass guitar. I don't know any songs.
I don't know any songs through to completion.
I don't know the lyrics to any songs.
I don't know I don't know how toplay any songs.
Man, once I once played guitar for for an old people's home
(13:40):
like 3 years ago and I learned aCat Stevens song.
But apart from that I'm like rocking my brains thinking do I
know all the words of that song even would they know how to play
that song? Probably not.
So what am I going to do at fucking acapella?
It was, it was a nightmare, man.I'm like, like absolutely.
Like I don't know what to do. I don't do songs, man.
(14:01):
And I'm suddenly I'm here in this restaurant and I've got to
get up on stage and sing. It's horrible.
It's so sweet. I really feel like you're you're
backed into a corner and I wish I was there with you, but I
don't know what I would have suggested, honestly.
I mean, I probably would have jumped in and said he's not
doing it. If he doesn't want to do it, he
doesn't have to do it. So I know you would have still
gone the. French guy, he said.
(14:24):
Dude, this is fuck. You absolutely don't have to do
it, don't worry. You've already shit yourself on
a bus. I mean, you don't.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. He goes, He goes, this is too.
This is too much like it's a freak accident.
We both know what are the odds. It's like, oh, what are the
odds? It's a fun game, don't worry
about it. I said no, that's not how the
game works. You gave me a chance.
(14:45):
I could have said one in 100,000, I could have said one
in a million, but I decided to say one in 50.
Those were the odds. That's it.
And I want to call out if anyonein the tropological audience has
ever gone back on a what are theodds game.
What kind of human being are you?
Because those were the odds. Do you know what I mean?
(15:08):
Yeah, well, well, what did you think?
It's like it's maybe quite low impact.
What was giving you the most anxiety?
Was it actually performing a song or was it negotiating or,
you know, entering into talks with the band?
Well, that was also another layer.
Yeah. Well, they knew that they didn't
speak. They just spoke Portuguese,
right. Pretty much.
That was likely. And the biggest anxiety was the
(15:31):
fact I didn't know what to do. Like I didn't know how to get
through a song. I had no idea.
But there was a moment where I had, you know, like when you've
got a problem to solve, you're in a high pressure situation.
Sometimes your brain pulls some wonderful shit out of the bag.
And I was sat there drinking my wine, little bead of sweat
dripping down my brow, and I thought, Oh my God, I've got it.
(15:55):
Oh my God, I have got it. And my anxiety turned to
excitement, Adam, excitement because I'd be in the game and
I'd won that. It was all perfect.
I knew exactly what to do. I got up, I tipped my spaghetti
on the and I got up to the to the band and I said one of the
most genius things I've ever hadthe joy of saying.
(16:19):
So I reveal after a meditation break.
I think we all need to take a brief like moment to relax.
I think so. I think so.
Let's go on a brief meditation break.
Do you love the podcast as much as we love you?
Please could you take the time to rate the show on your
favorite podcasting platform? Yeah, go and give it five stars.
Everyone else has. We're just waiting on you.
(16:41):
Thanks for supporting us, it means the world to us.
Like a plate of spaghetti tumbling to the floor, allow
your conscious mind to return into your brain as I am there
striding up to the band with my plan in hand.
What? What do you do in this
situation, Adam? What?
What's your like Go to? So, well, just talk to me about
(17:04):
where we are. So you're asking me what do I do
from the very beginning? Or what do I do when I've
already said the correct number and now have to deal with the
the fallout? You've landed yourself in a what
are the odd situation? Yeah.
OK, so there's been a couple of what are the odds that I've lost
or won? Depending on how you know what
your perspective is. They usually involve getting
naked. So, you know, I would say the
(17:28):
stakes are probably lower depending on the the environment
surrounding environment. If I had to sing a song, I would
I would try and get out my own way.
I think I would be my goodness, would I be embarrassed.
But you know, I was, I was looking at some people recently
on a dance floor and I, I was enjoying myself, right?
(17:50):
I was sort of standing on the edge of a dance floor and just
perusing and having a little look around everyone enjoying
themselves. And I, I landed on a couple of
guys that were going hell for leather.
I mean, they were really grooving, shaking and moving
hands in their air or hands in the air.
Obviously they were drunk. And I thought, my goodness, they
can't dance at all. They've got absolutely no
rhythm. And then this little voice
(18:11):
entered my head and it's and they said, but they're having
more fun than you are, so what'sit fucking matter?
And you know, and I, I just checked myself and I thought,
yeah, two, right. So in that situation, mate, I
would employ those tactics and I'd go, look, you're going to
embarrass yourself quite probably.
But just give them how they enjoy.
It do you think that those two dancers and employed their tiny
(18:32):
friends to go up behind people and whisper that to them as they
look judgmentally on a little voice came to me.
It was her mate Benjamin behind having more fun than you.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know, man,I wouldn't have liked to be in
that situation at all. I would have tried to avoid it
(18:53):
at all costs. Dare I say.
I might have even taken the French man up on his offer to
retract any sort of you know, but but I I love the fact that
you went through with it. I hope you did.
I mean, we haven't heard the endof story, but.
I go up to the the one who looked like the ringleader, the
guy with a microphone and a keyboard, and I say.
Just epic. Yeah, I said.
(19:16):
Hello, Sir. I it's my friend's birthday.
I pointed at the Frenchman from across the room.
I said I would love the opportunity to sing him Happy
birthday. And they went birthday and I
said yes, birthday. Do you know how to play happy
(19:36):
birthday? And then I took the microphone
and I went and sang happy birthday to piano music to
everything. And I sang happy birthday
directly to the Frenchman from start to finish.
And that is a song, Adam. That is the song of happy
birthday. It is.
(19:57):
I think it's actually the most famous song in the world, maybe
the most played, and it's copyrighted I believe.
But. No one can deny it, but isn't
that the perfect solution? Isn't that the ideal way to get
out of that situation? It's a song that is very, very
brief, very, very well known. Undeniably a song.
(20:18):
Everyone knows it. It transcends language barriers.
It embarrassed the French man a little bit because I was singing
it to him and we got a free slice of cake.
No, I think, I think, you know, even if you'd given me hours and
hours and hours to come up with something, I wouldn't have
thought of anything that was more genius than that.
Yeah, it's appropriate on all fronts.
(20:39):
I'm sure you did a fantastic job.
And I'm. And I hope it was fun.
I mean, was it fun in the end? Restaurants start singing you
along. That's the thing of a happy
birthday. So I didn't wasn't even exposed
because everyone was like, I really got everyone involved.
There was a happy birthday became a backing alien affair.
It was brilliant, man. The French guy was more
embarrassed than me. I went into sort of like a mode
(21:00):
with it. I was like insane.
And afterwards I said, right nowhere's Cat Stevens.
No, no, I didn't. But it was, man, I think it was
just the perfect solution. It really got me out of the
situation, you know? Yeah.
No, no, no. That's awesome.
Did you continue to play? What are the odds after that or
is that do you, have you checkedout now?
Is that you sort of hanging yourboots up as it were?
(21:21):
I think that's. Probably my greatest What are
the odds? Victory.
I don't think I'll be able to reach those heights again, but I
am, I'm open to coming out of retirement.
If maybe a Tripology listener sees me in the wild, maybe come
at me with a what are the odds? I'd be willing to play for the
right stake, you know? And I always come through on my
(21:43):
what are the odds? Victories and my losses.
So if you do come at me, expect some retaliatory fire, Yeah.
Well, let's just talk a little bit about what the odds because
it is something that is played often by backpackers.
And if we can try and I don't know, sort of perpetuate this
culture of making sure that thatyou go through with what are the
(22:03):
odds If you're, if you're going to play it, you know, know the
rules and go through with it. Much in the same way you might
go 100% at a costume party. Yeah.
You know, costume parties, fancydress, they're amazing.
When everyone goes all in, invariably there are a couple of
people that are they got the invitation late or they couldn't
think of anything or they just don't give 2 shits.
(22:24):
But you know when when people goall out, when they are people of
their word, it's amazing the results and you've always got.
The option not to play that's the thing about what are the
odds you can always say I don't want to play what are the odds
but the second you open that door and you go 017 million,
there's always a chance There's always a chance So be careful be
(22:45):
careful what you say the odds are and and be come through with
your delivery yeah, yeah, you better have a.
Happy birthday up your sleeve. That's amazing man, I loved it.
I wish I was there. I Is there a video?
Is there a video somewhere on the Internet that we can see?
One might. Exist one might exist.
I reckon that on some sort of strangers TikTok or something
(23:07):
that I've posted sort of Britishman plays happy birthday to
French onlookers. Maybe Google some search terms
but I don't know. I certainly didn't take one.
One of my friends took one, but you never know what's out there
on the Internet. So there we go mate.
Since then I've added a real wild time.
I got on a plane, obviously I'd left Brazil.
(23:28):
I'm doing a little pit stop out here in the UK because I've got
some big adventures planned for 2025.
Sometimes you need to, don't you?
Sometimes I looked at my bag, I looked at my clothes, I looked
at my toiletries situation and Ithought, do you know what, man?
I just need a fucking delivery. So I'm here in the UK, getting
(23:49):
resupplied, getting some new stuff, getting everything fixed,
and I'm going to be ready to go again soon.
Yeah, I like the. Sound of that, mate.
And just doing stuff like that, it really does does set you up
for success, doesn't it? In the future.
I mean, it's maybe logistically not the easiest thing to do, but
sometimes I know what it's like back home.
You can get, as you've said, allyour deliveries, even if you've
(24:11):
got to do some life admin stuff,quality of life stuff like go to
a doctor's, go to a dentist, allthis kind of thing.
It's it's really difficult to keep up with that sort of stuff
when when you're travelling fulltime.
What are you trying? To say, what are you trying to
say about my teeth or my health?I'm in tip top shape, Adam.
It's just the logistical things like toiletries and clothes.
I don't need to go to the doctors.
(24:31):
I don't need to go to the dentist.
Everything's fine. Well.
I, I actually went to the doctors a few times when I was
in India and I remember learningabout the system there because
it's, it's rapid. If you, I, I know there's such a
thing as health tourism, which I, I'm not sure, you know, we're
encouraging right now. But I remember speaking to a
friend of mine saying that I, I might go and see a doctor and
(24:52):
they said, yeah, you just phone them up.
You'll probably be there in halfan hour.
I was like, yeah, sure. They were like, no, no,
seriously. You can, you can just phone them
up and you'll probably get an appointment within half an hour.
And I couldn't even get there inhalf an hour.
It was amazing. Really.
Yeah, often. Times these sorts of things are
much more convenient in other places on the pay as you go
level, aren't they? It's like one of those things
about travelling. Sometimes you can get things
(25:13):
done easier away, sometimes it'seasier to come home.
I used to see travel as like this marathon thing where I'd go
as long as I can with the money that I have, keep on going, no
coming back. But now I think like, even if
you're in a marathon, you're allowed to stop at a water
station, splash some cold stuff on your face.
So I come home to the UK for a few weeks, just resupply,
restart, recuperate, have some home cooking and then blast off
(25:36):
again. There's no harm in doing that,
you know. No, not at.
All and much like you like what you've just sort of said there,
I've been thinking recently about sustainability and
sustainable travel and keeping this thing going for a long time
And you know, when it comes to getting jobs, earning money and
then quitting the jobs and spending all that money, maybe
the Holy Grail is sort of some digital nomad hybrid type thing,
(25:58):
passive income if that's ever inour future.
But when I look back and think that every single year or, you
know, every six month period, I thought you can't keep doing
this. It's not sustainable.
Well, we've now been on the roadfor 10, nearly eleven years.
So it it kind of is. Yeah.
You need to. Take some breaks and you know
what as well, there's some good stuff in the UK.
(26:19):
I've had a quite a good time. I went all the way to London.
I stayed with a friend in London, went to the British
Museum, the National History Museum, the National Art
Gallery. There's like a lot of fun stuff
to see. You can see all the stolen shit
that we've accumulated from other countries.
You know, so many times, like when I was in when I was in
(26:40):
Athens and when I was in Egypt and when I was, so often you see
a plaque saying, oh, this is where the bust of Ramses the
second would be, but for the fact it's in the British Museum.
Oh, here where these beautiful marble statues, the marbles of
Elisa's would be, but. But for the fact they're in the
British Museum. So it's nice to go and see them
(27:00):
in the British Museum, isn't it?And think, oh, wouldn't that
look good in that place that I once was?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, totally.
I mean, do we know what's happening in the back end there?
Do we know sort of the the bilateral agreements or maybe
there's a contract? They're just stolen, Adam.
There is no bilateral agreement or contract.
They're just taken. There was a big Easter Island
head in the British Museum looking all noble, and it
(27:22):
literally said on a plaque underneath.
Yeah, We took this way back whenEaster Island has sent a
committee asking for it back andthey brought a pot of dirt that
it came from as an offering. And here's the pot of dirt as
well. We took that and all get away.
(27:42):
Yeah. God, there's a, there's a famous
James Acaster bit actually, where he goes.
Sorry, we're still looking at it.
Yeah. Exactly.
They are still looking at it. I was looking at it and yeah,
probably not. OK.
That really isn't it. If you deeply, deeply think
about it, probably not that coolof us.
I went to the National Art Gallery as well.
(28:03):
You know what I find funny aboutthat is that everyone looks at
the piece of art that they thinkthey're supposed to look at.
It's remarkable, right? Yeah.
So go on. Is there one specific piece of
art you're talking about? Well, in in the National.
Art gallery. There's like Van Gogh
sunflowers, right? And you walk into that room and
people are literally walking up to it, taking a photo, staring
(28:23):
for a moment, and then fucking off in in a manner that can only
be described as absolutely mental because it's just the one
that they've heard of. They don't care about it.
There's an objectively better Van Gogh 2 feet to the right of
it, but I didn't see one person even glance at, but because
because they've seen some flowers, heard of it as a vague
(28:44):
cultural reference, they just golook at.
I think I've seen that now and then move on to another place
and it makes me think I see thata lot when when I'm travelling
in general. People looking at Machu Picchu
exclusively through the lens of their phone.
People going up to the Taj Mahal, pinching the top of it
(29:04):
and leaving through the exit is this weird, weird, like genre of
travel and tourism. I really just don't relate to
it. It's all.
I don't get it. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. How long do you need to have
looked at a painting or, or of, you know, a beautiful Vista or
anything before you can then move on to say you've sort of
seen it? Why are you doing?
Things because you're supposed to do them all the time.
(29:25):
Why? Why are you trying to do things
that you're supposed to do? Do things that you want to do?
If you don't want to come to theNational go, you don't have to
go. You don't need to go to National
go if you're not interested in it, Why are you just looking at
the thing that everyone's told you you're supposed to be
interested in? Do something else.
Yeah, I think that. Question probably extends much
further than just travel though,doesn't it?
I think a lot of people are doing what they think they're
(29:45):
supposed to do as opposed to what they actually want to do.
Yeah, I guess. And they're showing that picture
to someone else and they're going, oh, you'll never guess
what I saw. It's that painting that you've
also heard of. It's vank of sunflowers.
Or is it just they're on their phone?
What are they doing with it? Yeah, Yeah.
Well, I. Mean, also the experience when I
was at the Louvre, I saw the Mona Lisa, obviously.
And I remember walking into the room.
(30:06):
I'm not sure I even knew that itwas there, to be honest with
you. And there were, you know, let's
say 100 people huddled around it, some people trying to
stretch their arm over the top and take a photo.
And I just thought the experience of trying to even
view it at any distance where I can, like, discern what the
textures are like on the painting, you know, now and all
(30:28):
this sort of stuff and see the detail.
I just thought it looks horrible.
It looks horrible to be in that crowd vying for a position.
So I just thought, oh fuck it. Yeah.
Moved on. Yeah, man.
People will always take pictures, the Mona Lisa will
always be busy and nomadic. Matt ain't even that nomadic. 3
pillars of truthful travel. Facts that can never, ever be
(30:49):
changed and will always be perpetually true.
Oh, what a lovely episode of Tripology podcast.
On the next episode, we're goingto hear more of our New Zealand.
It's going to be a great plethora of adventures from your
side of the fence. We've got an Instagram account
at Tripology Podcast and a website, tripologypodcast.com.
You can send us an e-mail there to the hostel common room.
(31:11):
We'll actually reply, me or Adam, We'll sit at our computer
and go, oh, here's a nice reply to that e-mail.
Yeah, wonderful stuff, mate. And now we're going to go off to
the Lost and Found section on patreon.com/tropology podcast
where I'm going to tell a littlestory to Alan about some
lighting equipment and a very shrewd Chinese businessman.
Oh my God. Let's learn about it costs only
(31:33):
a dollar or something like that.If you go to patreon.com, you
can find out exactly how much itcosts and we will see you next
week. We'll see you there.
Bye. Can you show?
Me what is? True if I don't know.
What life is true in my heart ofmy life?
(32:10):
Can you show me?
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