October 4, 2025 • 37 mins
Have your passports ready! This week's travel quiz tests Alun's knowledge of all things passports. Which countries have the strongest passports and which countries have the weakest passports? And when was the first ever passport issued? We go through some of the 2025 passport rankings and share some weird passport facts you didn't know!
If there's one thing Alun's hates about travel, it's ubiquitous, unimaginative travel quotes. Alun reels off his least favourite travel quotes but has snuck in one he's written himself. Will Adam be able to guess which quote Alun wrote?
In Tales of a Trip, we hear from a listener who visited Mansheya Nasir aka 'Garbage City', on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Wonderfully descriptive and intriguing, his story touches on spirituality, religion and energy; an experience he describes as "magical".
Check out Sam Urrea's content: @surreal_traveler
Send your crazy travel stories to: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Thanks ever so much. Thanks everyone for tuning in
every single week. We'd love to have you here.
We really appreciate the support.
Hell of a show this week as per mate.
We've got a little catch up session in the beginning and
then we've got everyone's favorite travel quiz show.
It's Tripping Point in the middle and then at the end it's
Tales of a Trip where we hear from another backpacker.
Oh no. So it's an anxiety laden record
for me tripping point where I have to pit myself against you
(00:34):
in a battle of general knowledge.
I say pit myself against you. It's really yours.
Just sort of a question master and I have to answer questions
and I press myself if I don't know the answers.
Well, I just kind of use it as alearning experience for me.
I'm learning so much about general travel and travel
trivia, and I think if there's any man that can get 5 out of
five this week, it's probably you.
A Bloomingwell. Hope so, mate, because it's been
(00:55):
quite a tumultuous week for me. There's been brownouts, there's
been lockouts. Excuse me, Brownouts and
lockouts have you? Which one of those didn't make
sense to you? Well.
A lockout, I think is fairly self-explanatory, but a
brownout? I'd hate to be the only person
hearing that who know who doesn't know what it is.
Well, thank God they didn't haveit at the same time.
That's all I'm going to say. You're.
(01:18):
Going to have to explain what a brown out is because I might
have to write it in the description.
I'd rather know what it is before I put pen to paper.
I think one of the definitions of a brown out is a power out
that's planned and scheduled. OK, Could they really?
Could they not have chosen a phrase that was less misleading?
I think that's what it will black out, right?
(01:39):
So it's like black out, that is the power's gone out.
It's completely. Black.
Yes, no. Black in the sense that there's
no thing, nothing lighting it up.
Absence of light. Again, fairly self-explanatory.
Brown out is like, oh, it was almost really dark, but we did
give you some warning. Lighter candle.
So it's called Brown Out. OK, I don't know if I'm going to
(02:03):
be the only one listening to that who finds it funny.
Perhaps I will be. OK.
So did that affect you in any way?
Yeah, mate, it affected me in the sense that I couldn't do
anything because my shack becomes intolerably hot when the
power is off because I can't useair con.
So you just have to take yourself out for a whole day and
be amongst nature, which I do like doing.
So a brownout mate, it's a little bit of a double edged
(02:25):
sword. And it got me, you know, I sat
on the beach, basically I was looking at the waves.
I was there thinking, God, what I wouldn't do for a little mega
jewel of power right about now. And I started thinking about
travel and what had led me up tothat point.
I got a bit spiritual with it, you know what I mean?
I saw a crab scuttling next to me.
I thought, what are you doing? You should go front ways, not
(02:47):
side to side like that. And I was thinking about travel
and right. And and the story was inspired
by the crab or you know what wasgoing.
On I just disagree fundamentallywith the crabs method of
locomotion. I think they'd be more effective
if they went forwards. But is there a reason why
evolutionarily that they that they don't go forwards I?
Think it's just a stylistic choice by whatever days he
(03:10):
choose to believe in. Stylistic choice.
All the crabs. General consensus.
Yeah, I think with any out creature you've got a range of
options to choose from. And with that one it was
decided. Why don't you go from side to
side? But anyway, I was having this
spiritual epiphany and I thought, I wonder what your
(03:31):
perspective is on this. What is your least favorite
thing about travel? Oh.
God, talk about putting me on the spot.
I thought you're going to say myleast favorite country, then my
least favorite thing about travel.
I don't want to be the guy that says something like, oh, it
costs too much money or, you know, the fact I can't do it
forever. I'm going to say something quite
(03:53):
honest and I'm going to try and give you an answer quickly.
So I'm saying this right off thecast.
Yeah, it's it's probably other travellers travelling in, you
know, the the kind of clog up what what I'm doing.
So I realised that's incredibly selfish and egotistical and and
probably quite sort of misguidedin a way because I'm obviously
(04:16):
there as well. So it sort of contradicts what
I'm doing. If they're not there, then I
wouldn't be there either perhaps.
But a lot of the time it's, it'sthat really.
Just other people. I just wish there was less.
There were less people doing what I'm doing, where I'm doing
it. Well, my answer echoes yours.
I have a definitive answer to this, and I think it echoes
yours in some sense because mineis exclusively done by other
(04:41):
people. But I I've now done it as well
and I'm going to basically show you the things done by other
people and one of them's done byme and you've got to guess which
one's mine. My least favorite thing about
travel is, of course, inspirational travel quotes.
Oh wow, OK, your least favorite.Oh, this is exciting.
(05:02):
Yeah, my hatred of inspirationaltravel quotes started in a
hostel in Dilat, where I looked up at the wall and there was
written out in Biro the phrase travel is the only thing that
you can do that you spend money on that makes you richer.
(05:25):
Yeah, that's a famous one. And I was like, Oh well, that
person hadn't heard of cryptocurrency, had they?
The problem is, once you start ripping these things apart and
taking them seriously, they don't make loads of sense.
It's interesting because there'slots of things that you can
spend money on that make you richer.
That's what like. An investment is, yeah,
appreciating asset, yeah. So that person was just going
(05:46):
around the world going, Oh my God, everything costs money, but
I'm getting pretty rich. Not in a financial way.
I'm growing. And there is.
That's the thing about these travel quotes is there's
validity in all of them. Some of them, I think absolutely
make complete sense, but I just hate the fact that you've chosen
to to express the idea in a veryquotable sort of like, oh, why
(06:09):
not take your shoes off kind of a way.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we're talking about
taking shoes off. There's other ones that are
like, you know, big adventure ora gap year starts with the first
step. And it's like, oh fuck off.
Well, that's actually Loud Zoo that, you know, Loud Zoo, one of
the best philosophers of all time said every journey starts
with a single step. But he's not wrong.
He's not wrong. You can't.
(06:30):
You can't. Argue it.
It's all of my favorites anyway,so I've got some travel quotes
for you. Go on, you can.
I'm just going to read them out.I'll tell you who they're by,
but one of them is by me. OK, so chime in when you think
oh darn, that's a little bit suspicious.
I'll start reading them if I. Hear anything about a crab
walking sideways? I don't know which one it is.
Yeah. OK, here we go.
(06:51):
The world is a book, and those who don't travel read only one
page. OK, I like it.
It's again a very famous one, and it's true.
Yeah, maybe you should rate them.
Out of five, yeah. Give them a five star rating.
OK, because I don't really know where I am at the moment and
what A5 would sound like. Let's go with three.
(07:11):
Nice middle of the road. OK, you quite like it.
Well, I think it's, I think it'san average quote.
I think it's just a a little bitabove halfway.
OK. Do you think that was from me?
No. OK, well, you're right.
It was by Saint Augustine. Here's one for you.
Not all those who wonder are lost.
(07:33):
Again, it's a great quote. I like it slightly more than the
previous one. I like the short, sort of punchy
ones that allow you to then takethat and think about it in your
own time. So I'm going to give that a
four. Wow.
Well, yeah, I think, I think that's good.
And you also. Did.
I'm shocked. It's one of my least favorite
travel quotes. Well, it depends what you want a
travel quote to be. I want it to get me fucking
(07:55):
excited man. I want a travel quote to get me
naked. To get you naked if I ever say
anything one day. So.
OK, well, a four. Maybe I'm easy to please.
Maybe that's what it is. Yeah.
I also know that wasn't you. Yeah, because it's one of the
most famous, probably the most ubiquitous travel quote.
(08:16):
And I think it's probably, if I was going to see a wall in a
hostel with travel quotes peppered on it, I'd be very
surprised if whoever was commissioned to do that didn't
start there. To be honest, it's one of the
most basic ones, especially by Tolkien.
I was disappointed to learn. Yeah, well, I would argue that
maybe most people who wander aren't lost, actually.
(08:40):
Yeah, I. Would say that's probably more
accurate. Really quite dangerous in it to
be wandering about all lost nextone.
We've all got a purpose. Go on.
Travel is to life as music is tosound.
Wow, thought provoking, immediately confusing.
(09:00):
There's a deeper meaning and I'mbackpedaling and panicking
because I'm not quite understanding it.
I would say out of the previous ones that you've mentioned plus
this one, this is most likely tohave been written by you.
OK, travel is to tell me again, travel is to.
Is travel is to life as music isto sound?
(09:23):
Wow, OK, I'm not even sure I cancomprehend what that means.
Do you like it? It's quite, it's abstract, OK.
I do like it because it's it's one of those quotes that sounds
really profound. Yeah.
But most people, most people who'd say it wouldn't know what
it what it really means. And I and I'm still struggling
(09:44):
live on air to. Me.
That would mean like travel is to life as music is to sound.
So what is music to sound? It's creating beauty.
Patterns well. Patterns, yeah, but I think like
beautiful structure that like expands.
Melodic kind, OK. I think that's what I would
understand from that. OK.
(10:06):
But I'm not going to tell you who it's by because you're
saying you think that could be me.
Yes. Yeah, I think, I think it could
be what my, what my money was onwhat my cryptocurrency was, was
on at the moment. OK, here's another one.
Once a year, go someplace you'venever been before.
(10:26):
I think that that's A1A1 out of five quote.
OK. I I just even though I agree
with that, even though I think that's quite a good because
you've got to take it with a pinch of salt, right?
You can't, you can't live and die by these things that no
one's asking you to do that. Yeah, but but I do think, I do
think that that's quite shit. OK.
(10:48):
One out of five. Do you think that one's by me or
do you think that's a travel quote?
If it is by you, it's ironic. I don't think.
I don't think. I think you're taking the piss
out of how shit some travel quotes are and how popular they
become. OK.
So I'm not going to tell you whothat's by either because you're
saying it could be or or you want you rule it out.
(11:09):
I'm going to, yeah. I'll roll it out.
I don't think that was you. You've ruled it out.
That was, mate, the Dalai Lama. What?
The current Dell I love. Yeah, I think that's a shit.
Very basic. That is mental.
I don't think I would ever say that to anyone.
Maybe, like, maybe he's lost in translations at some point.
(11:30):
Maybe he was, you know, maybe his Tibetan translator said, oh,
you know, he's basically the gist of what he said was go
someplace once a year, but once a year, go someplace you've
never been before. I, I think that's, I think
that's OK. I think that's good advice.
I think you would get value out of it if you employ his, his
words, his tactics. But I but of all the travel
(11:51):
quotes, I mean, I think that's. All right, last one, you might
think you know this one. It goes.
The journey, not the arrival, matters.
OK, the journey, yeah. Now we've all heard it's not the
journey, it's the destination. No, no, it's the it's not the
destination, it's the journey. That's the one.
(12:13):
That's the one you all let that.We've all let that, but this is
the journey, not the arrival matters.
OK, again, because it's quite short, sharp and punchy and gets
you thinking. After reading that, I do quite
like that. I'd say that's probably is it
(12:34):
because I haven't heard it as often as the other one.
The more the more popular, ubiquitous one.
Maybe I'll go for a three. Can I do point fives 3.5 or 4
maybe? Oh God, it's your show.
Yeah, I'll say that's hovering around the 3.5 for Mark.
Why not? Because I feel like it's
inspired by the other quote and they've just gone.
(12:55):
How can I make this my own so that I don't have to worry about
copyright? All the other quotes are
inspired by it potentially, and it depends.
Do you think this is an established quote or do you
think yours truly give that a little right?
It's marketing genius. I don't think that's you either,
but maybe I'm fixating on the music one because you like
music. Because I because I sometimes
(13:18):
play music that would be a trap that I would lay, wouldn't it?
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it would. I mean, there's me thinking you
wouldn't lay a trap because I never do for you when we do
tripping points. If anything you help me
inordinately. There you go.
Listen, you can see which way round this is very telling of
this dynamic. OK.
Which one you're going for? That you wrote, Yeah, I'm going
(13:38):
to have to go for the music one.It's probably wrong.
You're right mate, I wrote the music one really travel is to
life as music is to sound. I don't really know what it
means either, but I thought it sounded like a quote.
So that was my one. And then the other one was by TS
Eliot and I actually think it's the precursor to it's not about
the destination, it's about the journey.
I think that he wrote that and said the journey, not the
(13:59):
arrival, is what matters. Nice like that a lot.
Dalai Lama. They're really failing miserably
to say something inspiring amidst and bunch of pretty
inspiring quotes. I feel like the Dalai Lava is
he's obviously like part of his role and responsibility is to
say profound things, insightful things.
And someone's come in and gone. Mr. Lama, you've not said
anything in in weeks. We we really need to put
(14:21):
something out there and he's gone.
I don't know, just fucking whatever.
Just say just. Say, well, how, how often can
people afford to go away? Once a year.
OK. Yeah, do that.
Yeah, just say something about Yeah.
Go away somewhere you haven't been or some shit.
I don't know. You come, you finish it off.
Something like that. Thanks, Mr. He's phoned that one
in and. Just put my name under it.
(14:42):
Yeah, people would buy it. It'd be fine.
Oh that's cool mate. Well, there you go mate.
Congratulations. You've done a great job there.
Now let's go to the point where I'm tested by you.
Let's go to tripping point. Tripping point OK everyone, here
(15:05):
we are. We're back for another tripping
point. It's the travel quiz where Alan
tries to get 5 out of five. Alan, what are the stakes this
week, mate? Why are you asking me that?
You're the games master. I have no idea.
I just try and turn up and get the questions right.
We've got no stakes. We've got no stakes.
What are we going to do? I don't know if we end up like
(15:25):
plugging something that you're going to be doing next year, but
who the hell is going to remember that?
Hold on. So you just asked me what are
the stakes? Is the reason behind that
because you've not come up with any stakes?
Because I have to say, imagine if someone went on a game show
like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
And the host went What do you want to win?
Or I've come up with five fantastic questions and a bonus
(15:48):
question. I can't come up with a stakes.
Choose anything you like. If you win, I'll give you
$1,000,000. OK, well, what?
What can we do? I'd like your credit card if I'm
completely honest. My credit card.
OK, Yeah. You've been working for quite a
while, full time now. I live on a beach so I'd quite
like access to your card. Access to my card Well, I do
(16:11):
trust you. I trust you with my life.
So access to my credit card, if you get some of the questions
are quite difficult. So let's give you a helping
hand. This is what I want I think.
If I get 2 right, I get I get the card number, if I get 4
right, I get the expiration date, and if I get 5 right, I
(16:33):
get the three numbers on the back as well.
OK, which obviously we won't be talking about.
Maybe we'll we'll, yeah, I'll give all those details in the
Patreon section. Love it.
So you can potentially pay a couple of dollars a month to
then have access to my credit card to just go shopping and,
you know, to the tune of $10. OK, I'm ready.
So question one, playing for thenumbers on the guard.
(16:55):
Yeah, and it is. It is a passport edition.
I can't believe it's taken us this long 150 odd episodes in to
have a passport edition, but here we are #1 According to
passportindex.org, which countryhas the strongest passport
ranked by its total mobility score?
Is it a Singapore, is it B Japan?
(17:16):
Is it C the United Arab Emiratesor is it D Switzerland?
Singapore. Are you, you don't want to talk
about it, Don't want a little back and forth?
Do you know what total mobility score is?
No, yeah, I do. And I'm confident it's
Singapore. OK, the answer, mate, is
actually the United Arab Emirates.
Can you believe it? Well, it was Singapore last
(17:37):
year. It was, you're right.
But the UAE, yeah, it was released a little while ago.
This year. The 2025 ranking system has got
the UAE in top spot with a scoreof 100 and 79133 countries visa
free and 19 countries requiring visas.
So there you go. What you got to say about that?
Can I raise a complaint? Yeah.
(18:01):
We have actually done something similar to this before
anthropology very early on. Do you think I remember?
Because I was in Scotland at thetime and you asked that question
and the answer was Singapore? Ah, 2 times are changing.
That's when you know you've beendoing a podcast for a long time
and the same question comes up with a different answer.
Yeah. And you started off by saying
we've never done anything like this before, meaning we've never
(18:27):
had this question with the same answer twice.
There you go. It's so, so different.
Well, now there's a little bit more, there's a bit more
formulaic, it's a bit more structured, you know, there are
themes and stuff that we're working within, right?
So. OK, so I've already lost my
chance at the code, but I can probably get the expiration date
and then guess. There's a bonus question as
well, so don't worry about it too much #2 which country has
(18:48):
the weakest passport ranked by its total mobility score?
I mean, obviously that was goingto be the next question.
Afghanistan. Wow, it was multiple choice and
you nailed it. OK, well the answer is
Afghanistan. The multiple choice would have
been Somalia, Afghanistan, Syriaor Pakistan.
Now Afghanistan has only got a score of 38160 countries
(19:12):
requiring visas and only six countries of visa free.
I'm going to shoot myself in thefoot, but I am an aficionado of
this passport list. I've looked at this list many
times, so I've got a bit of a helping.
Hand here, and if you want to bean expert backpacker, that's
something you got to study. It's very important. #3 here we
go. Just like his mother before him,
(19:33):
King Charles the Third doesn't actually own a passport.
Why Is it a he never leaves the country.
Is it B he has royal diplomatic immunity?
Is it C all British passports are issued in his name?
Or is it D he prefers to travel Incognito?
I mean, obviously not A or D, It's just a question of whether
(19:59):
it's justified by saying oh, it's royal diplomatic immunity,
or if they justify it by saying,oh, they're issued in his name,
so how could he actually have it?
That one sounds apocryphal to me.
I think it's saying, oh, it's issued in his name, so how could
he have one? It's just A essentially a
document, isn't it? That wouldn't be justification
enough not to have one. So I reckon it's got to be B.
(20:20):
It is in fact C All British passports are issued in his
name. Yeah, like I said, sounds
apocryphal to me. I don't think that would be
reason enough not to have a passport.
I think he what is he? I mean.
I've seen when I when I did, I totally get what you mean
because when someone says something like that to you, you
go, oh, yeah, I suppose that's right.
But when you actually think about it a little bit deeper, I
(20:42):
did some like studying on Redditand stuff and people are
explaining why he doesn't have one because they're issued at
his name. And I was like thinking, yeah,
yeah. But I don't think that really
matters, does it? What, you think he's in like the
queue to get into a country and someone said passport, Sir.
And he goes just look at anyone's just look at anyone's
passport. Just grabs a random woman, look
at her. Passport there, see that?
That's my name, it says Your Highness.
(21:03):
Yeah. And what am I?
You're pretty fucking high, so fuck off.
Yeah, we're going to require a picture, Sir, someone even said
on Reddit. Because the whole world, the
entire world knows when he travels you, you wouldn't need
one because everyone's already aware.
Yeah, I'm like. I'd say you'd need one.
(21:23):
It seems it seems like a little bit of a free pass if you ask
me. But anyway we move on and #4 the
first known passport like document was introduced by which
ruler and in what year? Was it A Julius Caesar in 44 BC?
Was it B King Arthur Circuses ofPersia in 445 BC?
(21:47):
Was it C Emperor Constantine in 312 AD?
Or was it T King Henry the 5th of England in 1414 AD?
Passport like document. Here's my thinking.
Here's my working out. I would say Xerxes, He was more
about getting everyone homogenized into the Persian
(22:08):
Empire and having them all like beyond him as one ruler.
So I think he doesn't have a need for passports because he
just thinks everyone get in amongst it.
I think Caesar, he's obviously dealing with a very big empire,
lots of different places, lots of different cultures, lots of
different and passport like document.
(22:30):
I think Caesar might have had use for something like a
passport. Constantine.
What year was Constantine? 312AD.
Caesar being the earliest. There's not Xerxes for the
reasons we just mentioned. I think obviously like a
passport is a very specific thing, but a passport like
document something that says I'mfrom here.
(22:53):
I reckon Caesar might have had use for one, so I'm going to
plump for him. It is in fact B.
It's King Arthur Xerxes of Persia.
Persia in 445 BC. Just earlier, yeah.
Found in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.
I've heard that. Oh yeah.
Dating around 445 BC, Nehemiah received a letter from King
Arthur Xerxes of Persia grantinghim safe passage for an upcoming
(23:14):
Germany. And that's a passport like
document. Is it a fucking letter saying
let him pass? I guess so.
I mean, I was. Talking about like something
that was released to the public as some sort of identification,
not just please let one king through.
Yeah, this is this is this person and he is of this land
and this is his number one we imagine.
(23:37):
That's unbelievable, mate. I mean, OK. #5 Passports are
generally limited to one of fourcolours, but which colour is
preferred by the most nations? Is it a blue, is it B red?
Is it C green or is it D black? I'm going to go with C green.
(24:02):
I just feel like I've seen a lotof.
Them. I didn't love your reaction to
that, so I might have to change it to a.
Red a is blue so. So now we now we do have a
strange decision to make becauseyou said A which is blue which
(24:25):
is correct, but you also said the colour red.
So which answer would you like me to take?
I I meant one. That's right.
OK, well it is a it's blue. Can you believe 85 countries
issue blue passports to their citizens?
What a shambles mate. Well.
We've got a little bonus question.
(24:45):
See if you can redeem yourself. It is interesting actually,
isn't it the the choosing the colour black?
They can famously only let people travel in One Direction
across a border. What where the phrase comes from
once you go black? Wow, that was incredible.
(25:06):
I thought you, I thought it was genuinely interesting fact then
about sort of that as some sort of document that you get that
only allows you passes one way. Passing a border.
Here we go over crossing the line.
I think you did. That was another border joke.
So the bonus question, there areonly 7 nations that issue black
(25:27):
passports. Can you name 1?
I've seen one in the wild, I'm just trying to think who had it.
Yeah, it's not a popular colour.Hold on, let me do a little role
play. Hello there.
Let me have a look at your passport.
(25:47):
Wow, can't help but noticing it's black as the Ace of spades.
Where are you from, if you don'tmind me asking?
Oh really? That's a really interesting
place I'm going to go with. Drumroll.
India. No, it's incorrect.
I'm afraid I'll reel them off. She lied to me, did she?
(26:16):
So here we go in alphabetical, not alphabetical order actually,
so I don't have to rearrange them.
Angola, Congo, Malawi, New Zealand, the Palestinian
Territories, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago.
Oh, she was actually from Angola, No.
No, it must have been a Kiwi. I mean, the first time I saw a
black passport was here when I was with a Kiwi and I saw them
(26:37):
in a a queue for the airport andI was like, that's cool black
passport. It's awesome.
Come. To think of it, I actually think
she just had one of those passport covers on it.
Yeah, you can get those in many different colours.
Because it also had Hello Kitty in the corner, I was thinking,
wow, India is really cool. Dear, Oh dear.
(26:58):
So I don't think you get access to my credit card.
Unfortunately, that was absolutely abysmal, Adam, But we
know because you do so well at these most times that you do
know a hell of a lot about travel.
Did I get? One right?
I think you got one right. And then maybe if we're being
extremely generous, I think you've probably got 2, right,
because you did say A, but you did say red.
(27:20):
I mean, let the record show thatI found a lot of the questions
in that edition of Tripping Point a little bit on the, what
shall we say the frustrating side.
Oh, OK. Well, back to the drawing board
then. I'll talk to the team and we'll
try and come up. I think they were great
questions mate. I'm not complaining about the
questions, I just think you might have been LED astray with
(27:41):
some of the answers. That's what I'm just saying.
Oh, do you know what I should have done?
We should have said the stakes. If you get the right, you can
pick the theme for the next one.And then I'll come up that that
would be a really good thing to do.
Maybe we'll do that for the nextone.
Maybe why don't we let the audience pick the theme?
If you want to hear Alan do a tripping point on a theme of
your choice right in tropologypodcast@gmail.com,
we'll send us a little message on Instagram.
(28:02):
Go to the. Website.
Go on. Go to the website, send us a
little thing on the contact form, and then I'll get with all
the elves in the back that helped me prepare this show and
then we'll we'll give it to you that way.
Yeah, I think your homework thisweek go to
tropologypodcast.com/hostel common room and you can say
basically what your favorite travel quote is and what theme
(28:23):
the next tripping point should be.
Amazing. We look forward to your entries.
But right now, we're going to hear from one of you a different
way, because I'd be very interested to hear one of your
greatest travel stories. 3 minutes to tell us the best
travel story what you've ever had.
Maybe it's that time you went down a mountain in only your
slippers, or the time you use the kind of natural toothbrush
(28:43):
that made your breath minty fresh.
We want to hear it. We're about to hear one right
now. Hello, my name is Sam and my
social media username is SurrealTraveler.
And my craziest story is one that I experienced in Cairo,
Egypt, in a neighborhood called Mansheet Nasser, also more
(29:05):
commonly known as Garbage City because it is a neighborhood
that's on the outskirts of Cairothat collects all of the city's
trash. And so when you go in, you see
towers and towers of garbage, organic waste.
Of course, it's a big shock as soon as you walk in because of
(29:26):
the smell and because of, yeah, the entire experience is just,
like, in your face. And it's not for everybody.
But I wasn't expecting what I was about to see, which is, you
know, spending an entire day. I got my own guide who was from
the neighborhood. He showed me how the trash was
collected. He showed me how people lived.
(29:48):
And I was really shocked. The most important thing to know
about the neighborhood is it is Coptic Christian in a Muslim
majority country. There's a lot of Christian
history in Egypt, but over the centuries it became Muslim
majority. But that neighborhood
specifically, mind you, at NASA or Garbage City is 90% Coptic
(30:11):
Christian. So you see a lot of the posters
of their patriarch. You see a lot of posters of
Jesus. They in fact have a cave, a huge
cave church that can hold thousands of people in the upper
hills of, of the neighborhood. And so it's a, it just felt like
(30:31):
the entire time that I was there, I, it was almost like a
blur. I feel like it was just so
blessed. People were like in high
spirits. Even my guide was telling me
that a lot of people take their loved ones or on acquaintances
there to be blessed or for miracles to happen or to for
miraculous healings. And I don't know that you just I
(30:55):
felt like I was in a really, really magical and blessed
place. There was a nun who spent over
20 years there. I believe she was from France
and she helped a lot of the people from the neighborhood
because it is a very humble neighborhood and I spent so much
time there. But to me, it is my craziest
(31:17):
travel story because it just became like a blur.
I felt like something was completely blessing that place.
And I never felt something like that in my my life.
It brought me a lot closer to myreligion, having been born
Christian, it brought me a lot, lot closer.
And I think it made me a huge believer again.
(31:39):
So I was not expecting that at all.
And also I wasn't supposed to go.
Some little domino effect happened and I ended up going
there. Wow, Sam there at the Surreal
Traveller on Instagram with a spiritual tale, I mean beautiful
really, to this idea that location and travel can bring
(32:02):
you to somewhere that just feelslike it enlivens that sort of
spiritual feeling within you. And I kind of concur with Sam.
Rarely do I feel that way when Igo to somewhere that's supposed
to be the most spiritual. You know, you go to like a
beautiful temple or, or like a monastery or something like
(32:23):
that. I usually feel my most spiritual
when I go to sort of places thatjust have a certain vibe about
them. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, I do. Thanks so much for sending the
the story in Sam. It was great.
I was, I was completely there with you and it kind of made me,
I think a lot about the things that we did in India together.
Certainly going to Dalvi, the, the slum there where you know,
(32:45):
it's, it's quite difficult to walk around that sort of thing
because you're fully aware that you're a paying tourist.
If you like walking around into an environment that is sometimes
awful for these people, of course, but there is this
wonderful community there that'smaybe painted in a bad light and
you have the ability to remove yourself from the situation.
But I've been to countless places over the years where
there's this kind of aura and energy about it that's
(33:07):
inexplicable. And I don't know if that's like
going into the place you alreadyhave a preconceived idea.
People have told you that it's heavily religious or that
something incredible happened there in history or something
like that. I mean, it reminds me of a time
when I went to a place called Gigenyama, which is on the
outskirts of your Katrinberg in Russia.
And that's where I believe, though, is it the Romanov
(33:28):
family, that family that were killed by the KGB in Russia.
It's where it's where their bodies were buried.
And now there are, I think 8 chapels and churches there in
the forest, in the places where they were buried.
And you walk around. And I, I was very lucky.
I mean, I met a girl who offeredto just Take Me Out in her car
and we drove all the way there because it's outside the city in
(33:50):
the forest. It was covered in snow because
it was winter. And even though there were a few
other people walking around, it's in the forest, there's snow
on the floor, but nothing made asound.
And it was, it was otherworldly,almost.
It was so, so silent. It was almost deafening.
I mean, I've just, I don't thinkI've ever been anywhere quite
like it. Yeah, there's two different
(34:12):
types of spirituality for me, really.
I think there's that kind that you're describing where serenity
brings a feeling of spirituality, where peace brings
a sense of spirituality. And there's that other sort of
feeling that I think Sam describing, which is like sort
of community and the feeling of spirituality that that brings.
(34:33):
And I think that you can see that in religions when they try
and conjure a sense of spirituality.
Some religions do that with vibrant singing and dancing and
the evocation of this community spirit we're all together, and
some do it with sombre candlelitserenity.
And I think that like evocation of spirituality is really
(34:54):
interesting in that way. I think the times where I felt
most spiritually connected to a place have been when I felt
ensconced by community. I'm thinking about like living
in the Amazon and my friendship with the people there and
gathering around the table and playing cards sort of late at
night. There's like spirituality in
that as well. I think that it's all really
interesting. Yeah, yeah.
Had you heard of the place that Sam had been to, or have you
(35:15):
been there yourself? So now you've travelled around.
I've been to Cairo and I've noted that there was certainly a
lot of garbage going around, butnot the specific places that he
mentioned. Yeah, garbage city.
I mean, it's awful, isn't it? Well, on a slightly lighter
note, I guess, do you remember that place that I don't think
you got to in Mumbai, which is where all the the washing of the
(35:36):
whole city goes? I can't remember what?
Yeah, I can't remember the name.It's amazing.
It's like 1 area of this very poor area, but I think it's
actually a slum itself. It's like a huge group of
houses, almost like a neighborhood and all of the
laundry, whether that's bed sheets, pillowcases, clothes,
they're kind of big, big companies, big hotel chains and
everything. They will send their linens and
(35:59):
and other washing and stuff to this one neighborhood to, to get
cleaned. And it's, it's amazing to walk
around. It really is.
Yeah, my clothes came back from there with like chalk all over
them because obviously they get like big and they get like a big
influence of like all the laundry in Mumbai and they just
have to mark them off and keep them together.
It's any way to do it. There you go.
That was my very spiritual laundry experience indeed.
(36:20):
Thank you so much for sending inyour travel story, Sam.
Go check him out at Surreal under score Traveller on
Instagram. If you have an amazing travel
story, it can be anything you like.
Go to tripologypodcast.com/talesof the trip and send in 3
minutes your greatest travel story.
Now though, we're going to head off to the Lost and Found
(36:41):
section after the episode. A special little 15 minutes
where we go all bonkers and crazy over.
Available on Patreon. We'll see you there.
See you there guys. Thanks ever so much.
We'll see you next week. Bye.
Bye.
Thanks ever so much. Thanks everyone for tuning in
every single week. We'd love to have you here.
We really appreciate the support.
Hell of a show this week as per mate.
We've got a little catch up session in the beginning and
then we've got everyone's favorite travel quiz show.
It's Tripping Point in the middle and then at the end it's
Tales of a Trip where we hear from another backpacker.
Oh no. So it's an anxiety laden record
for me tripping point where I have to pit myself against you
(00:34):
in a battle of general knowledge.
I say pit myself against you. It's really yours.
Just sort of a question master and I have to answer questions
and I press myself if I don't know the answers.
Well, I just kind of use it as alearning experience for me.
I'm learning so much about general travel and travel
trivia, and I think if there's any man that can get 5 out of
five this week, it's probably you.
A Bloomingwell. Hope so, mate, because it's been
(00:55):
quite a tumultuous week for me. There's been brownouts, there's
been lockouts. Excuse me, Brownouts and
lockouts have you? Which one of those didn't make
sense to you? Well.
A lockout, I think is fairly self-explanatory, but a
brownout? I'd hate to be the only person
hearing that who know who doesn't know what it is.
Well, thank God they didn't haveit at the same time.
That's all I'm going to say. You're.
(01:18):
Going to have to explain what a brown out is because I might
have to write it in the description.
I'd rather know what it is before I put pen to paper.
I think one of the definitions of a brown out is a power out
that's planned and scheduled. OK, Could they really?
Could they not have chosen a phrase that was less misleading?
I think that's what it will black out, right?
(01:39):
So it's like black out, that is the power's gone out.
It's completely. Black.
Yes, no. Black in the sense that there's
no thing, nothing lighting it up.
Absence of light. Again, fairly self-explanatory.
Brown out is like, oh, it was almost really dark, but we did
give you some warning. Lighter candle.
So it's called Brown Out. OK, I don't know if I'm going to
(02:03):
be the only one listening to that who finds it funny.
Perhaps I will be. OK.
So did that affect you in any way?
Yeah, mate, it affected me in the sense that I couldn't do
anything because my shack becomes intolerably hot when the
power is off because I can't useair con.
So you just have to take yourself out for a whole day and
be amongst nature, which I do like doing.
So a brownout mate, it's a little bit of a double edged
(02:25):
sword. And it got me, you know, I sat
on the beach, basically I was looking at the waves.
I was there thinking, God, what I wouldn't do for a little mega
jewel of power right about now. And I started thinking about
travel and what had led me up tothat point.
I got a bit spiritual with it, you know what I mean?
I saw a crab scuttling next to me.
I thought, what are you doing? You should go front ways, not
(02:47):
side to side like that. And I was thinking about travel
and right. And and the story was inspired
by the crab or you know what wasgoing.
On I just disagree fundamentallywith the crabs method of
locomotion. I think they'd be more effective
if they went forwards. But is there a reason why
evolutionarily that they that they don't go forwards I?
Think it's just a stylistic choice by whatever days he
(03:10):
choose to believe in. Stylistic choice.
All the crabs. General consensus.
Yeah, I think with any out creature you've got a range of
options to choose from. And with that one it was
decided. Why don't you go from side to
side? But anyway, I was having this
spiritual epiphany and I thought, I wonder what your
(03:31):
perspective is on this. What is your least favorite
thing about travel? Oh.
God, talk about putting me on the spot.
I thought you're going to say myleast favorite country, then my
least favorite thing about travel.
I don't want to be the guy that says something like, oh, it
costs too much money or, you know, the fact I can't do it
forever. I'm going to say something quite
(03:53):
honest and I'm going to try and give you an answer quickly.
So I'm saying this right off thecast.
Yeah, it's it's probably other travellers travelling in, you
know, the the kind of clog up what what I'm doing.
So I realised that's incredibly selfish and egotistical and and
probably quite sort of misguidedin a way because I'm obviously
(04:16):
there as well. So it sort of contradicts what
I'm doing. If they're not there, then I
wouldn't be there either perhaps.
But a lot of the time it's, it'sthat really.
Just other people. I just wish there was less.
There were less people doing what I'm doing, where I'm doing
it. Well, my answer echoes yours.
I have a definitive answer to this, and I think it echoes
yours in some sense because mineis exclusively done by other
(04:41):
people. But I I've now done it as well
and I'm going to basically show you the things done by other
people and one of them's done byme and you've got to guess which
one's mine. My least favorite thing about
travel is, of course, inspirational travel quotes.
Oh wow, OK, your least favorite.Oh, this is exciting.
(05:02):
Yeah, my hatred of inspirationaltravel quotes started in a
hostel in Dilat, where I looked up at the wall and there was
written out in Biro the phrase travel is the only thing that
you can do that you spend money on that makes you richer.
(05:25):
Yeah, that's a famous one. And I was like, Oh well, that
person hadn't heard of cryptocurrency, had they?
The problem is, once you start ripping these things apart and
taking them seriously, they don't make loads of sense.
It's interesting because there'slots of things that you can
spend money on that make you richer.
That's what like. An investment is, yeah,
appreciating asset, yeah. So that person was just going
(05:46):
around the world going, Oh my God, everything costs money, but
I'm getting pretty rich. Not in a financial way.
I'm growing. And there is.
That's the thing about these travel quotes is there's
validity in all of them. Some of them, I think absolutely
make complete sense, but I just hate the fact that you've chosen
to to express the idea in a veryquotable sort of like, oh, why
(06:09):
not take your shoes off kind of a way.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we're talking about
taking shoes off. There's other ones that are
like, you know, big adventure ora gap year starts with the first
step. And it's like, oh fuck off.
Well, that's actually Loud Zoo that, you know, Loud Zoo, one of
the best philosophers of all time said every journey starts
with a single step. But he's not wrong.
He's not wrong. You can't.
(06:30):
You can't. Argue it.
It's all of my favorites anyway,so I've got some travel quotes
for you. Go on, you can.
I'm just going to read them out.I'll tell you who they're by,
but one of them is by me. OK, so chime in when you think
oh darn, that's a little bit suspicious.
I'll start reading them if I. Hear anything about a crab
walking sideways? I don't know which one it is.
Yeah. OK, here we go.
(06:51):
The world is a book, and those who don't travel read only one
page. OK, I like it.
It's again a very famous one, and it's true.
Yeah, maybe you should rate them.
Out of five, yeah. Give them a five star rating.
OK, because I don't really know where I am at the moment and
what A5 would sound like. Let's go with three.
(07:11):
Nice middle of the road. OK, you quite like it.
Well, I think it's, I think it'san average quote.
I think it's just a a little bitabove halfway.
OK. Do you think that was from me?
No. OK, well, you're right.
It was by Saint Augustine. Here's one for you.
Not all those who wonder are lost.
(07:33):
Again, it's a great quote. I like it slightly more than the
previous one. I like the short, sort of punchy
ones that allow you to then takethat and think about it in your
own time. So I'm going to give that a
four. Wow.
Well, yeah, I think, I think that's good.
And you also. Did.
I'm shocked. It's one of my least favorite
travel quotes. Well, it depends what you want a
travel quote to be. I want it to get me fucking
(07:55):
excited man. I want a travel quote to get me
naked. To get you naked if I ever say
anything one day. So.
OK, well, a four. Maybe I'm easy to please.
Maybe that's what it is. Yeah.
I also know that wasn't you. Yeah, because it's one of the
most famous, probably the most ubiquitous travel quote.
(08:16):
And I think it's probably, if I was going to see a wall in a
hostel with travel quotes peppered on it, I'd be very
surprised if whoever was commissioned to do that didn't
start there. To be honest, it's one of the
most basic ones, especially by Tolkien.
I was disappointed to learn. Yeah, well, I would argue that
maybe most people who wander aren't lost, actually.
(08:40):
Yeah, I. Would say that's probably more
accurate. Really quite dangerous in it to
be wandering about all lost nextone.
We've all got a purpose. Go on.
Travel is to life as music is tosound.
Wow, thought provoking, immediately confusing.
(09:00):
There's a deeper meaning and I'mbackpedaling and panicking
because I'm not quite understanding it.
I would say out of the previous ones that you've mentioned plus
this one, this is most likely tohave been written by you.
OK, travel is to tell me again, travel is to.
Is travel is to life as music isto sound?
(09:23):
Wow, OK, I'm not even sure I cancomprehend what that means.
Do you like it? It's quite, it's abstract, OK.
I do like it because it's it's one of those quotes that sounds
really profound. Yeah.
But most people, most people who'd say it wouldn't know what
it what it really means. And I and I'm still struggling
(09:44):
live on air to. Me.
That would mean like travel is to life as music is to sound.
So what is music to sound? It's creating beauty.
Patterns well. Patterns, yeah, but I think like
beautiful structure that like expands.
Melodic kind, OK. I think that's what I would
understand from that. OK.
(10:06):
But I'm not going to tell you who it's by because you're
saying you think that could be me.
Yes. Yeah, I think, I think it could
be what my, what my money was onwhat my cryptocurrency was, was
on at the moment. OK, here's another one.
Once a year, go someplace you'venever been before.
(10:26):
I think that that's A1A1 out of five quote.
OK. I I just even though I agree
with that, even though I think that's quite a good because
you've got to take it with a pinch of salt, right?
You can't, you can't live and die by these things that no
one's asking you to do that. Yeah, but but I do think, I do
think that that's quite shit. OK.
(10:48):
One out of five. Do you think that one's by me or
do you think that's a travel quote?
If it is by you, it's ironic. I don't think.
I don't think. I think you're taking the piss
out of how shit some travel quotes are and how popular they
become. OK.
So I'm not going to tell you whothat's by either because you're
saying it could be or or you want you rule it out.
(11:09):
I'm going to, yeah. I'll roll it out.
I don't think that was you. You've ruled it out.
That was, mate, the Dalai Lama. What?
The current Dell I love. Yeah, I think that's a shit.
Very basic. That is mental.
I don't think I would ever say that to anyone.
Maybe, like, maybe he's lost in translations at some point.
(11:30):
Maybe he was, you know, maybe his Tibetan translator said, oh,
you know, he's basically the gist of what he said was go
someplace once a year, but once a year, go someplace you've
never been before. I, I think that's, I think
that's OK. I think that's good advice.
I think you would get value out of it if you employ his, his
words, his tactics. But I but of all the travel
(11:51):
quotes, I mean, I think that's. All right, last one, you might
think you know this one. It goes.
The journey, not the arrival, matters.
OK, the journey, yeah. Now we've all heard it's not the
journey, it's the destination. No, no, it's the it's not the
destination, it's the journey. That's the one.
(12:13):
That's the one you all let that.We've all let that, but this is
the journey, not the arrival matters.
OK, again, because it's quite short, sharp and punchy and gets
you thinking. After reading that, I do quite
like that. I'd say that's probably is it
(12:34):
because I haven't heard it as often as the other one.
The more the more popular, ubiquitous one.
Maybe I'll go for a three. Can I do point fives 3.5 or 4
maybe? Oh God, it's your show.
Yeah, I'll say that's hovering around the 3.5 for Mark.
Why not? Because I feel like it's
inspired by the other quote and they've just gone.
(12:55):
How can I make this my own so that I don't have to worry about
copyright? All the other quotes are
inspired by it potentially, and it depends.
Do you think this is an established quote or do you
think yours truly give that a little right?
It's marketing genius. I don't think that's you either,
but maybe I'm fixating on the music one because you like
music. Because I because I sometimes
(13:18):
play music that would be a trap that I would lay, wouldn't it?
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it would. I mean, there's me thinking you
wouldn't lay a trap because I never do for you when we do
tripping points. If anything you help me
inordinately. There you go.
Listen, you can see which way round this is very telling of
this dynamic. OK.
Which one you're going for? That you wrote, Yeah, I'm going
(13:38):
to have to go for the music one.It's probably wrong.
You're right mate, I wrote the music one really travel is to
life as music is to sound. I don't really know what it
means either, but I thought it sounded like a quote.
So that was my one. And then the other one was by TS
Eliot and I actually think it's the precursor to it's not about
the destination, it's about the journey.
I think that he wrote that and said the journey, not the
(13:59):
arrival, is what matters. Nice like that a lot.
Dalai Lama. They're really failing miserably
to say something inspiring amidst and bunch of pretty
inspiring quotes. I feel like the Dalai Lava is
he's obviously like part of his role and responsibility is to
say profound things, insightful things.
And someone's come in and gone. Mr. Lama, you've not said
anything in in weeks. We we really need to put
(14:21):
something out there and he's gone.
I don't know, just fucking whatever.
Just say just. Say, well, how, how often can
people afford to go away? Once a year.
OK. Yeah, do that.
Yeah, just say something about Yeah.
Go away somewhere you haven't been or some shit.
I don't know. You come, you finish it off.
Something like that. Thanks, Mr. He's phoned that one
in and. Just put my name under it.
(14:42):
Yeah, people would buy it. It'd be fine.
Oh that's cool mate. Well, there you go mate.
Congratulations. You've done a great job there.
Now let's go to the point where I'm tested by you.
Let's go to tripping point. Tripping point OK everyone, here
(15:05):
we are. We're back for another tripping
point. It's the travel quiz where Alan
tries to get 5 out of five. Alan, what are the stakes this
week, mate? Why are you asking me that?
You're the games master. I have no idea.
I just try and turn up and get the questions right.
We've got no stakes. We've got no stakes.
What are we going to do? I don't know if we end up like
(15:25):
plugging something that you're going to be doing next year, but
who the hell is going to remember that?
Hold on. So you just asked me what are
the stakes? Is the reason behind that
because you've not come up with any stakes?
Because I have to say, imagine if someone went on a game show
like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
And the host went What do you want to win?
Or I've come up with five fantastic questions and a bonus
(15:48):
question. I can't come up with a stakes.
Choose anything you like. If you win, I'll give you
$1,000,000. OK, well, what?
What can we do? I'd like your credit card if I'm
completely honest. My credit card.
OK, Yeah. You've been working for quite a
while, full time now. I live on a beach so I'd quite
like access to your card. Access to my card Well, I do
(16:11):
trust you. I trust you with my life.
So access to my credit card, if you get some of the questions
are quite difficult. So let's give you a helping
hand. This is what I want I think.
If I get 2 right, I get I get the card number, if I get 4
right, I get the expiration date, and if I get 5 right, I
(16:33):
get the three numbers on the back as well.
OK, which obviously we won't be talking about.
Maybe we'll we'll, yeah, I'll give all those details in the
Patreon section. Love it.
So you can potentially pay a couple of dollars a month to
then have access to my credit card to just go shopping and,
you know, to the tune of $10. OK, I'm ready.
So question one, playing for thenumbers on the guard.
(16:55):
Yeah, and it is. It is a passport edition.
I can't believe it's taken us this long 150 odd episodes in to
have a passport edition, but here we are #1 According to
passportindex.org, which countryhas the strongest passport
ranked by its total mobility score?
Is it a Singapore, is it B Japan?
(17:16):
Is it C the United Arab Emiratesor is it D Switzerland?
Singapore. Are you, you don't want to talk
about it, Don't want a little back and forth?
Do you know what total mobility score is?
No, yeah, I do. And I'm confident it's
Singapore. OK, the answer, mate, is
actually the United Arab Emirates.
Can you believe it? Well, it was Singapore last
(17:37):
year. It was, you're right.
But the UAE, yeah, it was released a little while ago.
This year. The 2025 ranking system has got
the UAE in top spot with a scoreof 100 and 79133 countries visa
free and 19 countries requiring visas.
So there you go. What you got to say about that?
Can I raise a complaint? Yeah.
(18:01):
We have actually done something similar to this before
anthropology very early on. Do you think I remember?
Because I was in Scotland at thetime and you asked that question
and the answer was Singapore? Ah, 2 times are changing.
That's when you know you've beendoing a podcast for a long time
and the same question comes up with a different answer.
Yeah. And you started off by saying
we've never done anything like this before, meaning we've never
(18:27):
had this question with the same answer twice.
There you go. It's so, so different.
Well, now there's a little bit more, there's a bit more
formulaic, it's a bit more structured, you know, there are
themes and stuff that we're working within, right?
So. OK, so I've already lost my
chance at the code, but I can probably get the expiration date
and then guess. There's a bonus question as
well, so don't worry about it too much #2 which country has
(18:48):
the weakest passport ranked by its total mobility score?
I mean, obviously that was goingto be the next question.
Afghanistan. Wow, it was multiple choice and
you nailed it. OK, well the answer is
Afghanistan. The multiple choice would have
been Somalia, Afghanistan, Syriaor Pakistan.
Now Afghanistan has only got a score of 38160 countries
(19:12):
requiring visas and only six countries of visa free.
I'm going to shoot myself in thefoot, but I am an aficionado of
this passport list. I've looked at this list many
times, so I've got a bit of a helping.
Hand here, and if you want to bean expert backpacker, that's
something you got to study. It's very important. #3 here we
go. Just like his mother before him,
(19:33):
King Charles the Third doesn't actually own a passport.
Why Is it a he never leaves the country.
Is it B he has royal diplomatic immunity?
Is it C all British passports are issued in his name?
Or is it D he prefers to travel Incognito?
I mean, obviously not A or D, It's just a question of whether
(19:59):
it's justified by saying oh, it's royal diplomatic immunity,
or if they justify it by saying,oh, they're issued in his name,
so how could he actually have it?
That one sounds apocryphal to me.
I think it's saying, oh, it's issued in his name, so how could
he have one? It's just A essentially a
document, isn't it? That wouldn't be justification
enough not to have one. So I reckon it's got to be B.
(20:20):
It is in fact C All British passports are issued in his
name. Yeah, like I said, sounds
apocryphal to me. I don't think that would be
reason enough not to have a passport.
I think he what is he? I mean.
I've seen when I when I did, I totally get what you mean
because when someone says something like that to you, you
go, oh, yeah, I suppose that's right.
But when you actually think about it a little bit deeper, I
(20:42):
did some like studying on Redditand stuff and people are
explaining why he doesn't have one because they're issued at
his name. And I was like thinking, yeah,
yeah. But I don't think that really
matters, does it? What, you think he's in like the
queue to get into a country and someone said passport, Sir.
And he goes just look at anyone's just look at anyone's
passport. Just grabs a random woman, look
at her. Passport there, see that?
That's my name, it says Your Highness.
(21:03):
Yeah. And what am I?
You're pretty fucking high, so fuck off.
Yeah, we're going to require a picture, Sir, someone even said
on Reddit. Because the whole world, the
entire world knows when he travels you, you wouldn't need
one because everyone's already aware.
Yeah, I'm like. I'd say you'd need one.
(21:23):
It seems it seems like a little bit of a free pass if you ask
me. But anyway we move on and #4 the
first known passport like document was introduced by which
ruler and in what year? Was it A Julius Caesar in 44 BC?
Was it B King Arthur Circuses ofPersia in 445 BC?
(21:47):
Was it C Emperor Constantine in 312 AD?
Or was it T King Henry the 5th of England in 1414 AD?
Passport like document. Here's my thinking.
Here's my working out. I would say Xerxes, He was more
about getting everyone homogenized into the Persian
(22:08):
Empire and having them all like beyond him as one ruler.
So I think he doesn't have a need for passports because he
just thinks everyone get in amongst it.
I think Caesar, he's obviously dealing with a very big empire,
lots of different places, lots of different cultures, lots of
different and passport like document.
(22:30):
I think Caesar might have had use for something like a
passport. Constantine.
What year was Constantine? 312AD.
Caesar being the earliest. There's not Xerxes for the
reasons we just mentioned. I think obviously like a
passport is a very specific thing, but a passport like
document something that says I'mfrom here.
(22:53):
I reckon Caesar might have had use for one, so I'm going to
plump for him. It is in fact B.
It's King Arthur Xerxes of Persia.
Persia in 445 BC. Just earlier, yeah.
Found in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.
I've heard that. Oh yeah.
Dating around 445 BC, Nehemiah received a letter from King
Arthur Xerxes of Persia grantinghim safe passage for an upcoming
(23:14):
Germany. And that's a passport like
document. Is it a fucking letter saying
let him pass? I guess so.
I mean, I was. Talking about like something
that was released to the public as some sort of identification,
not just please let one king through.
Yeah, this is this is this person and he is of this land
and this is his number one we imagine.
(23:37):
That's unbelievable, mate. I mean, OK. #5 Passports are
generally limited to one of fourcolours, but which colour is
preferred by the most nations? Is it a blue, is it B red?
Is it C green or is it D black? I'm going to go with C green.
(24:02):
I just feel like I've seen a lotof.
Them. I didn't love your reaction to
that, so I might have to change it to a.
Red a is blue so. So now we now we do have a
strange decision to make becauseyou said A which is blue which
(24:25):
is correct, but you also said the colour red.
So which answer would you like me to take?
I I meant one. That's right.
OK, well it is a it's blue. Can you believe 85 countries
issue blue passports to their citizens?
What a shambles mate. Well.
We've got a little bonus question.
(24:45):
See if you can redeem yourself. It is interesting actually,
isn't it the the choosing the colour black?
They can famously only let people travel in One Direction
across a border. What where the phrase comes from
once you go black? Wow, that was incredible.
(25:06):
I thought you, I thought it was genuinely interesting fact then
about sort of that as some sort of document that you get that
only allows you passes one way. Passing a border.
Here we go over crossing the line.
I think you did. That was another border joke.
So the bonus question, there areonly 7 nations that issue black
(25:27):
passports. Can you name 1?
I've seen one in the wild, I'm just trying to think who had it.
Yeah, it's not a popular colour.Hold on, let me do a little role
play. Hello there.
Let me have a look at your passport.
(25:47):
Wow, can't help but noticing it's black as the Ace of spades.
Where are you from, if you don'tmind me asking?
Oh really? That's a really interesting
place I'm going to go with. Drumroll.
India. No, it's incorrect.
I'm afraid I'll reel them off. She lied to me, did she?
(26:16):
So here we go in alphabetical, not alphabetical order actually,
so I don't have to rearrange them.
Angola, Congo, Malawi, New Zealand, the Palestinian
Territories, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago.
Oh, she was actually from Angola, No.
No, it must have been a Kiwi. I mean, the first time I saw a
black passport was here when I was with a Kiwi and I saw them
(26:37):
in a a queue for the airport andI was like, that's cool black
passport. It's awesome.
Come. To think of it, I actually think
she just had one of those passport covers on it.
Yeah, you can get those in many different colours.
Because it also had Hello Kitty in the corner, I was thinking,
wow, India is really cool. Dear, Oh dear.
(26:58):
So I don't think you get access to my credit card.
Unfortunately, that was absolutely abysmal, Adam, But we
know because you do so well at these most times that you do
know a hell of a lot about travel.
Did I get? One right?
I think you got one right. And then maybe if we're being
extremely generous, I think you've probably got 2, right,
because you did say A, but you did say red.
(27:20):
I mean, let the record show thatI found a lot of the questions
in that edition of Tripping Point a little bit on the, what
shall we say the frustrating side.
Oh, OK. Well, back to the drawing board
then. I'll talk to the team and we'll
try and come up. I think they were great
questions mate. I'm not complaining about the
questions, I just think you might have been LED astray with
(27:41):
some of the answers. That's what I'm just saying.
Oh, do you know what I should have done?
We should have said the stakes. If you get the right, you can
pick the theme for the next one.And then I'll come up that that
would be a really good thing to do.
Maybe we'll do that for the nextone.
Maybe why don't we let the audience pick the theme?
If you want to hear Alan do a tripping point on a theme of
your choice right in tropologypodcast@gmail.com,
we'll send us a little message on Instagram.
(28:02):
Go to the. Website.
Go on. Go to the website, send us a
little thing on the contact form, and then I'll get with all
the elves in the back that helped me prepare this show and
then we'll we'll give it to you that way.
Yeah, I think your homework thisweek go to
tropologypodcast.com/hostel common room and you can say
basically what your favorite travel quote is and what theme
(28:23):
the next tripping point should be.
Amazing. We look forward to your entries.
But right now, we're going to hear from one of you a different
way, because I'd be very interested to hear one of your
greatest travel stories. 3 minutes to tell us the best
travel story what you've ever had.
Maybe it's that time you went down a mountain in only your
slippers, or the time you use the kind of natural toothbrush
(28:43):
that made your breath minty fresh.
We want to hear it. We're about to hear one right
now. Hello, my name is Sam and my
social media username is SurrealTraveler.
And my craziest story is one that I experienced in Cairo,
Egypt, in a neighborhood called Mansheet Nasser, also more
(29:05):
commonly known as Garbage City because it is a neighborhood
that's on the outskirts of Cairothat collects all of the city's
trash. And so when you go in, you see
towers and towers of garbage, organic waste.
Of course, it's a big shock as soon as you walk in because of
(29:26):
the smell and because of, yeah, the entire experience is just,
like, in your face. And it's not for everybody.
But I wasn't expecting what I was about to see, which is, you
know, spending an entire day. I got my own guide who was from
the neighborhood. He showed me how the trash was
collected. He showed me how people lived.
(29:48):
And I was really shocked. The most important thing to know
about the neighborhood is it is Coptic Christian in a Muslim
majority country. There's a lot of Christian
history in Egypt, but over the centuries it became Muslim
majority. But that neighborhood
specifically, mind you, at NASA or Garbage City is 90% Coptic
(30:11):
Christian. So you see a lot of the posters
of their patriarch. You see a lot of posters of
Jesus. They in fact have a cave, a huge
cave church that can hold thousands of people in the upper
hills of, of the neighborhood. And so it's a, it just felt like
(30:31):
the entire time that I was there, I, it was almost like a
blur. I feel like it was just so
blessed. People were like in high
spirits. Even my guide was telling me
that a lot of people take their loved ones or on acquaintances
there to be blessed or for miracles to happen or to for
miraculous healings. And I don't know that you just I
(30:55):
felt like I was in a really, really magical and blessed
place. There was a nun who spent over
20 years there. I believe she was from France
and she helped a lot of the people from the neighborhood
because it is a very humble neighborhood and I spent so much
time there. But to me, it is my craziest
(31:17):
travel story because it just became like a blur.
I felt like something was completely blessing that place.
And I never felt something like that in my my life.
It brought me a lot closer to myreligion, having been born
Christian, it brought me a lot, lot closer.
And I think it made me a huge believer again.
(31:39):
So I was not expecting that at all.
And also I wasn't supposed to go.
Some little domino effect happened and I ended up going
there. Wow, Sam there at the Surreal
Traveller on Instagram with a spiritual tale, I mean beautiful
really, to this idea that location and travel can bring
(32:02):
you to somewhere that just feelslike it enlivens that sort of
spiritual feeling within you. And I kind of concur with Sam.
Rarely do I feel that way when Igo to somewhere that's supposed
to be the most spiritual. You know, you go to like a
beautiful temple or, or like a monastery or something like
(32:23):
that. I usually feel my most spiritual
when I go to sort of places thatjust have a certain vibe about
them. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, I do. Thanks so much for sending the
the story in Sam. It was great.
I was, I was completely there with you and it kind of made me,
I think a lot about the things that we did in India together.
Certainly going to Dalvi, the, the slum there where you know,
(32:45):
it's, it's quite difficult to walk around that sort of thing
because you're fully aware that you're a paying tourist.
If you like walking around into an environment that is sometimes
awful for these people, of course, but there is this
wonderful community there that'smaybe painted in a bad light and
you have the ability to remove yourself from the situation.
But I've been to countless places over the years where
there's this kind of aura and energy about it that's
(33:07):
inexplicable. And I don't know if that's like
going into the place you alreadyhave a preconceived idea.
People have told you that it's heavily religious or that
something incredible happened there in history or something
like that. I mean, it reminds me of a time
when I went to a place called Gigenyama, which is on the
outskirts of your Katrinberg in Russia.
And that's where I believe, though, is it the Romanov
(33:28):
family, that family that were killed by the KGB in Russia.
It's where it's where their bodies were buried.
And now there are, I think 8 chapels and churches there in
the forest, in the places where they were buried.
And you walk around. And I, I was very lucky.
I mean, I met a girl who offeredto just Take Me Out in her car
and we drove all the way there because it's outside the city in
(33:50):
the forest. It was covered in snow because
it was winter. And even though there were a few
other people walking around, it's in the forest, there's snow
on the floor, but nothing made asound.
And it was, it was otherworldly,almost.
It was so, so silent. It was almost deafening.
I mean, I've just, I don't thinkI've ever been anywhere quite
like it. Yeah, there's two different
(34:12):
types of spirituality for me, really.
I think there's that kind that you're describing where serenity
brings a feeling of spirituality, where peace brings
a sense of spirituality. And there's that other sort of
feeling that I think Sam describing, which is like sort
of community and the feeling of spirituality that that brings.
(34:33):
And I think that you can see that in religions when they try
and conjure a sense of spirituality.
Some religions do that with vibrant singing and dancing and
the evocation of this community spirit we're all together, and
some do it with sombre candlelitserenity.
And I think that like evocation of spirituality is really
(34:54):
interesting in that way. I think the times where I felt
most spiritually connected to a place have been when I felt
ensconced by community. I'm thinking about like living
in the Amazon and my friendship with the people there and
gathering around the table and playing cards sort of late at
night. There's like spirituality in
that as well. I think that it's all really
interesting. Yeah, yeah.
Had you heard of the place that Sam had been to, or have you
(35:15):
been there yourself? So now you've travelled around.
I've been to Cairo and I've noted that there was certainly a
lot of garbage going around, butnot the specific places that he
mentioned. Yeah, garbage city.
I mean, it's awful, isn't it? Well, on a slightly lighter
note, I guess, do you remember that place that I don't think
you got to in Mumbai, which is where all the the washing of the
(35:36):
whole city goes? I can't remember what?
Yeah, I can't remember the name.It's amazing.
It's like 1 area of this very poor area, but I think it's
actually a slum itself. It's like a huge group of
houses, almost like a neighborhood and all of the
laundry, whether that's bed sheets, pillowcases, clothes,
they're kind of big, big companies, big hotel chains and
everything. They will send their linens and
(35:59):
and other washing and stuff to this one neighborhood to, to get
cleaned. And it's, it's amazing to walk
around. It really is.
Yeah, my clothes came back from there with like chalk all over
them because obviously they get like big and they get like a big
influence of like all the laundry in Mumbai and they just
have to mark them off and keep them together.
It's any way to do it. There you go.
That was my very spiritual laundry experience indeed.
(36:20):
Thank you so much for sending inyour travel story, Sam.
Go check him out at Surreal under score Traveller on
Instagram. If you have an amazing travel
story, it can be anything you like.
Go to tripologypodcast.com/talesof the trip and send in 3
minutes your greatest travel story.
Now though, we're going to head off to the Lost and Found
(36:41):
section after the episode. A special little 15 minutes
where we go all bonkers and crazy over.
Available on Patreon. We'll see you there.
See you there guys. Thanks ever so much.
We'll see you next week. Bye.
Bye.
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