Beginner's Guide: Buying a Campervan in New Zealand
Dreaming of Van Life in New Zealand? In this episode of the 'award-nominated' Tripology Podcast, Adam shares his experience of buying a campervan in New Zealand. Learn how a failed vehicle inspection was the key to him buying the campervan.
Hostel Wars returns and this week Vagabot's off to the student town of Rosario, Argentina. Will it be Adam or Alun who can deliver the most authentic hostel recommendation?
Searching for great backpacking advice? In Tales of a Trip, we hear from a listener who turned their tough circumstances into 5+ years of travel, and it all began with a simple piece of advice... Planning a New Zealand road trip? Interested in backpacking New Zealand? Wondering whether to buy or rent a campervan? This episode will inspire and inform you!
Send your crazy travel stories to: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
00:35 - Award nomination
03:10 - Adam's bought a campervan!
06:38 - Campervan fails pre-purchase inspection
11:30 - Adam meets his Sales match
16:16 - Hostel Wars: Rosario, Argentina
22:28 - Tales of a Trip: Travel advice
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TRANSCRIPT
Alun:
[0:08] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology. I'm Alun and I'm here with one of the greatest travel podcasters of all time as voted by people what do it for a job. It's the ever award nominated Adam. um thank.
Adam:
[0:25] You very much the ever award nominated Alun we got a hell of a show this week little updates from the both of us as to what we've been doing and then of course vagabond he's off on another trip in the second section and then it's tales of a trip in the third how you doing mate.
Alun:
[0:39] Yeah i'm good mate all the better for the fact that we've been nominated forever such an award haven't we yeah.
Adam:
[0:45] I can't quite believe it i mean it feels like the last two and a half three years have come to fruition and we're starting to be recognized by people within the industry it's always exciting and i can't wait to see what the outcome is you've you've deserved it we all know you deserve it and we hope you win.
Alun:
[1:01] I can believe it mate for the sheer reason that i spent quite an enormous amount of time writing to the people that host the awards and saying to them i think we should have an award please it's the independent podcasting award so it's basically the award for any show what's not got a producer so if
you're in the bbc or anything like that you ain't got a hoping the hell of getting to the finals but for us i basically this was my strategy adam i sent them a message and i said you've got a travel category we're actually the only podcast that's traveling whilst making the podcast every other travel podcast pretty much does it show in between the bits where the hosts are traveling so by that very nature perhaps we should be crowned greatest travel podcast by.
Adam:
[1:48] Default even if someone else wins the category we are the only traveling podcast at the very least so i would imagine that the other people they may be opt for different tactics i.e go on a long trip and make a podcast about it or podcasts about travel in general from the comfort of their own home possibly because as we've found out firsthand it is very fucking hard to do what we do.
Alun:
[2:10] Well i don't want to start a campaign to nullify the other candidates but i I had a little browse on there and I've noticed that some of them don't even have passports.
Adam:
[2:22] Uh no discrimination of course but very well done mate very well done thanks everyone for all the support you know who you are all the guys that listen week in week out that enjoy the show that message us uh it's really wonderful it really is to be recognized from industry professionals, because we love what we're doing and and we hope more and more people uh listen
Nominations and Excitement
Adam:
[2:44] to us as a result i suppose.
Alun:
[2:45] Yeah thanks for the nomination thanks for being in the final good to be there adam your background is very serene and calm mine's a right clutter bus of activity i've got a safe there which is unusual because i'm not in a hotel room this safe is just part of my abode here in chargau in the island in the philippines what have you been up to mate you're touring around new zealand And I promised that we'd discuss your
Adam's New Zealand Adventures
Alun:
[3:11] adventures over that beautiful country in subsequent episodes. So what's been going on?
Adam:
[3:17] Well, I've made a small step, a very expensive step towards travelling around the country. And that is in the form of, we did mention on a previous episode, buying a camper van.
Alun:
[3:29] Yeah, and in that episode, I basically tried to warn you against going for an expensive van. And I said, don't go for the one with the 24 litres of toiletries on board. Just get the cheapest thing. Stop in a cafe. What did you end up doing in the end?
Adam:
[3:44] So we have gone for the self-contained camper van. But it is quite a story because do you remember us talking about the pre-purchase inspection that went on?
Alun:
[3:55] I remember.
Adam:
[3:56] So what was quite funny is me and the guy that we were buying it off, we went there in the morning. We went to the garage to drop it off. We got a brief talking to about the sort of stuff that the mechanic was going to go through. It was going to cost X amount. I think it was about $100, $150, something like that, which the guy we were buying it off was happy to split. Uh and then that would unearth the big list of problems or not that it would have and i was basically going to purchase the vehicle based on the results of that um test so i think that's fairly straightforward right yeah.
Alun:
[4:26] What did you need to see in order to be like that's it i'm not purchasing it did you need to fail on a bunch of categories were you willing to invest any money in reparations if um if there was problems.
Adam:
[4:38] Yeah yeah so to be completely honest i mean the price not not the value of the van the genuine value of the van um if you were to buy it i suppose as a mechanic but because of the market here because of the high number of travelers and backpackers and because of the travel the van life culture is somewhat distorted and inflated the price of camper vans obviously and then there's also this self contained versus not self-contained thing we spoke about so given all of that taking all of that into account it's quite a good price and i I knew there was going to be some dings and some knocks and some things that needed updating. Maybe it's just maintenance stuff, like having a service done or getting a light fixed or new tyres, whatever. I was prepared to invest a little bit of money. If they had unearthed that it was on its last legs or that I needed to replace the engine...
Alun:
[5:27] Or that it'd be involved in a series of terrible crimes.
Adam:
[5:30] Yeah, or that it was stolen. Or that no one had had sex in the back. You know, whatever it might have been that would have devalued the van...
The Camper Van Journey
Adam:
[5:39] So much so that i wouldn't have been able to sell it on then you know that would have been i think basically i took the mechanic to one side and i said look mate i'm the one who's buying this can you just go through it as if you were going to buy it and just be really honest with me at the end because i do like the van but i've got a couple of months before i leave so if you could just be really transparent that was fine me and me and old mate went off in a cafe bonded for two hours then we got the phone call and.
Alun:
[6:06] He was trying to pretend to be you buying the van so he was like my favourite wine is a beautiful Burgundy from the Chateau region in the south of France. And you were like, can you tell me about the car? But he's like, no, no, I'm role-playing. I've got a lovely travel podcast.
Adam:
[6:23] Burgundy, of course, the wine region famously not in the south of France.
Alun:
[6:26] I don't know about that. He wasn't cosplaying me, was he? Otherwise he'd have taken that van, filled it with 24 litres and he'd be off around New Zealand.
Adam:
[6:36] Yeah, 24 litres of the finest Burgundy. that'd be nice my god try managing the waste after that um but we got there and the guy had a long list on a clipboard and i thought fucking hell here we go he started reeling off all the things he said look there's a lot to do but none of it's severe there's a few things like rust and that kind of stuff you really need to jump on it now otherwise it's going to develop into a much bigger and more expensive issue by and large i think it's a good van it's got the foundations of something you can do a good road trip in uh and yeah there's stuff that you'll need to update my but let's just go going at the top here the quote to fix all of the things that they advised at their shop was two thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars what.
Alun:
[7:20] Is that as a percentage of the total value of the van itself.
Adam:
[7:23] Roughly 33 right yeah you know and if the question is could you resell the van after doing the work for probably the same amount of price given the current market the answer is also yes, But it's more of a risk, of course, and it's money that's no longer in my pocket.
Alun:
[7:43] And we know you, you are risk averse. So I imagine you instantly started crying, hung up the phone and went to Gumtree to try and find a new vehicle.
Adam:
[7:51] Yeah, yeah. So that did shock me a little bit. I thought, oh, God, you know, got to get the gauge, whether it's him trying to win business, of course, because off the back of this, it's much easier for me to just leave the van with them and then do the work. But what he did say was look you've got all this stuff to do and also the warrant of fitness which for the uk listeners is somewhat similar to the mot it's
like a uh it allows the road vehicle to be legal driving on the roads that expires next month so what i would do is if i was you is i would take it to an independent adjudicator if you like certification station where they will run through the warrant of fitness check that it will fail it will categorically it will fail for three reasons he reeled off the reasons one of them uh was the rear light over the registration plate
one of them was the the tread on the tires it was too bald and i think one of them was like a bump stop which protects the chassis and the the wheel the axle or i don't know loads of other mechanical jargon anyway he said it will it will fail definitely for those three accounts um so just go and get the long list of things it needs done and then you can basically just do the bare minimum knock that off the price with
the guy and then the van's yours and i thought okay that's pretty sound so me and the guy uh we ended up taking the van i think he thought he'd lost the sail i could see it in his face he was down he was down and out he.
Alun:
[9:13] Could see it in your face as well. Both looking at each other like this sails down the fucking pan.
Adam:
[9:20] But little did you know you know i'm a businessman a salesman at heart i was licking my lips thinking i'm gonna get this thing for a fiver it's amazing i know he's got his flight book next wednesday he's gotta leave and he can't take the van on the plane um so uh we went over to this independent all it does right this neutral thing it's called vn vtnz or something like that you drive your car in it's a drive through warrant of fitness certification center and they don't have an attached garage so then even if they fail it they're not there to win business because they can't do the work anyway it has to go to another local garage i'd.
Alun:
[9:52] Say of all the businesses to be drive through that's probably the worst one because by definition people are going to be driving absolute shit heaps that shouldn't be driving there.
Adam:
[10:01] Yeah and then.
Alun:
[10:02] They're a captive audience are they oh i'm sorry you can't drive this out.
Adam:
[10:05] Totally yeah you're totally right you've hit the nail on the head but you do have 28 days to get a retest for free we're not on commission i just think that's quite a good thing um and i had a brunch planned so i said look take it for its thing, get it done, give us a call tell us what the damage is and then we'll talk about a price or anything that needs doing right he was actually suggesting that any of the work that needed done we could possibly split or he can knock it off the price, whatever, So I went away, communicated that to my partner at the brunch, was feeling pretty glum about the whole thing because I thought it was going to do a lot better than that. And now I could potentially be $3,000 in the red before it's even able to drive. And he texted our group about two hours later and he said, you won't believe this, but it's just flown through the warrant of fitness. It passed with flying colors.
Alun:
[10:53] Yeah. How fast was he driving when he went through the drive-thru?
Adam:
[10:56] It's literally flown past at 70.
Alun:
[10:58] Kilometers an hour with a bunch of people shouting and waving their fists at the vehicle as i fled the scene.
Adam:
[11:04] Just a blur on the cctv um no he said it's passed with flying colors so it's now got its war on a fitness for another year it's now road legal for another year and that is a huge bonus and.
Negotiating the Van Deal
Alun:
[11:16] I'm in a relationship with the manager of vtn's head.
Adam:
[11:19] It was i must admit it was actually friday afternoon at about 3 p.m and it was pissing down with rain so i've got no dear no i've got no doubt the person who was doing the certification just thought fucking get out of here i want to go for a beer um but yeah we digress he said he said look if you want this van i'll keep the price the same for you but now that it's got the warrant of fitness for another year if you don't want it i'm going to put it back on the market for an even higher price oh and i was like yeah fair play fair play so i said send me your bank details i'll send you the money this afternoon it.
Alun:
[11:53] Was a test of your skills you met your match in him didn't you.
Adam:
[11:55] Well i think the fact that the mechanic has said categorically it would fail on three accounts and then it passed with flying colors means that i absolutely won't be taking it back to that garage, i'm over the moon that it passed with flying colors because it means that that's a job i don't have to do and it means i've got a couple of months to fix all the gubbins and and other things that are wrong with it before i take off on my big trip.
Alun:
[12:21] It's a difficult situation mate when you're trying to negotiate and the goal posts keep on moving you've got a bargaining chip he's got a bargaining chip i don't know who to believe.
Adam:
[12:30] My girlfriend's in the passenger seat eating chips it's um it's just one of those things mate you know it's i'm very glad that we got it done i'm very glad that we got it over the line i'm now the proud owner of a mazda bongo and it's cool it's a bashed up old van it's a bashed up old utility vehicle that's been converted into a camper van it's exactly what i wanted is it small yes um but i it's got character it looks like it can tell stories it's got a couple of surfboards on the roof that we spoke about it came with a bloody fishing rod tents uh we've already sold the ukulele that it came with for 100 bucks so that comes off the price of the you know i sent you didn't i sent you the swap being in business with a musician's all about not least someone who used to build ukuleles, uh sent you the picture and said give give a value for that mate would you i.
Alun:
[13:17] Know mate i got a text from you i was at a jujitsu competition watching someone get armbar then i got a little text i was there on the sidelines looking up a valuation for a ukulele i hope it came in useful and it sounds like it did.
Adam:
[13:29] Yeah it's pretty good isn't it when your van comes with so many things that you're not going to use you can just take the time to sell them over the course of the next couple of months and that money of course goes into updating the van and therefore not hitting the old bank account so you know i'm looking at a fishing rod right now a fishing net some fishing paraphernalia you know little bits of what they called hooks bait all this kind of stuff that i'm definitely not going to use i won't be catching my own dinner as far as i know um and cafetiers little other bits and bobs maybe you can't get more than five dollars for it but it's all a bit of fun in it facebook marketplace except.
Alun:
[14:05] You're selling all that stuff the fishing gear you're not buying fishing gear for yourself.
Adam:
[14:08] No no no no no i mean it's already there i'm looking at it now big fishing rod so i think someone else will get a better use out of it i don't really know how to fish i'm not that interested in fishing um and all the free time i do have will probably be spent on making content for the old show yeah.
Alun:
[14:23] When you said you were looking at the fishing rod i thought you were like perusing the online world you've like i've sold the ukulele and now what will take that space up in the van it's a good old fishing rod and i was surprised so what's your first adventure planned since it's not fishing what are you going to do first in the old van.
Adam:
[14:39] Well we're probably going to knock off a few things on the south island there's dunedin invercargill the caitlins i believe they're called uh further down south but this is really just giving the van a little warm-up stretching the old camper van van life muscles before potentially a two-month trip around the entire country so you know it won't just be a traveling podcast then it'll be a traveling podcast that's in the back of a van it will be somewhat akin to the sort of stuff we
Vagabot's Authentic Experience
Adam:
[15:06] were doing over in oman mate.
Alun:
[15:07] Exciting stuff adam i cannot wait to hear all about it, Adam, it's that time on the show where we boot up everyone's favourite travel AI, the Vagabot 3000, the most authentic travelling robot in the world. Vagabot pursues only the most authentic experience. Using training data from the Snapchat accounts of millennial backpackers that have gone to Thailand, he's become a sort of authenticity seeking machine. Every month, he randomly chooses a city for us to go. We go and find the worst reviews that we can find in that city and then vagabond judges them and tells us which one they want to stay in i.e the worst hostel possible and then we name and shame that hostel live on the podcast baby this.
Adam:
[15:58] Week's authentic experience takes place in rosario argentina is it a place you've ever been authentically.
Alun:
[16:04] Never been to rosario vagabond pulled that one out of his hat and it can i've been to argentina but i've never been to rosario It's a student town with a river flowing through it. So I was very excited to peruse and see what Rosario had to offer. Here we go, man. It's Hostel Wars. Okay, last time, Adam, of course, you won Hostel Wars. Vagabot chose your hostel to stay in. So kick it off, man. Tell us what was the worst review that you found.
Adam:
[16:34] Okay, here we go. a backpacker in Rosario has said about this hostel in particular, One star is being generous I don't understand why they put incapable people in charge of handling reservations. When we arrived the smell of the place was nauseating. The structural conditions are deteriorating and unacceptable. They left me and another guest outside the hostel all night in minus 4 degree weather. When the manager arrived I asked if I could wait inside to check in and he very authoritative said no he slammed the door in my face he was rude oh.
Alun:
[17:10] Scathing review an authoritative manager.
Adam:
[17:13] Yeah it's uh it's not a good review is it mate if i read that review would i stay there i'm not sure i didn't realize it got that cold in in that part of argentina but apparently it does and um yeah be interesting to see what what vags thinks about this one argentina.
Alun:
[17:29] Has very cold bites man they've We've got Patagonia, mountainous, snowy regions all over the country, as well as desert and coastline as well. It's a topographical wonder, Argentina. But have you ever been in a situation where you've tried to check into a hostel and you've had a rude manager who's denied you stay? It's only happened to me once, and it was because I was with a Spanish couple that insisted on bartering.
Adam:
[17:51] Bartering in a hostel? That's an interesting take.
Alun:
[17:54] They're at a cheaper price.
Adam:
[17:55] Yeah, fair enough. I don't think I've ever encountered any animosity or ill treatment or anything like that. I mean, by and large, the people that work in hostels tend to be travelers and backpackers anyway. There's been a couple of crazy people that have been managing hostels. There was one guy, actually, who I think was the owner of the hostel when I first landed in Melbourne. And he was a bit of a hippie, actually. He was real, like, anti-government. You know, just wanted everyone to get parking tickets and fines and stuff. Use his hostel address as the address that they were sent to and then he just kept them in a room and then whenever they called up he said no he was never staying here mate don't know anything about it so you know people dodging dodging fares and all that sort of stuff he was a real man of the people what.
Alun:
[18:36] A saucy character forward that hostel onto Vagabort he would love to stay there.
Adam:
[18:39] What's your review mate go on spit it out.
Alun:
[18:41] Here's my review mate it's from a 41 year old Argentinian woman a native she said honestly this is the worst hostel I've ever been to they contacted me three times to see what time I would arrive. I arrived at the greed time of 12 noon, and they had me waiting for an hour and a half. During that time, they were trying to reorganize rooms because they had people living there. It was overbooked, and they didn't even have clean sheets. The building is falling apart. Everything is in terrible condition and dirty. The women's bathroom opens onto the kitchen. It's horrible. I left, and they didn't even refund my reservation.
Adam:
[19:22] Wowzers. Quick question to you, I suppose, as a fellow hostel goer. Is it fair to leave a review if you haven't stayed somewhere?
Alun:
[19:31] But she did stay there.
Adam:
[19:33] You think she stayed there for a left of time? She left because it was so bad.
Alun:
[19:37] This is what happened.
Adam:
[19:38] She left early.
Alun:
[19:39] She turned up after being called three times asking for a reservation. She waits there. She goes in. She goes for a quick wee, tries to get out of the bathroom. It's like, hola, benvenido a la cocina. Welcome to the kitchen, baby. And then she was like, this is not okay. I'm bouncing. But, you know, she stayed there. I think her experience sounds fairly valid, to be honest. I would be uncomfortable if I went for a wee and burst out into someone making a lasagna.
Adam:
[20:07] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, whoever was in charge of the layout maybe had a day off. But yeah, I do think reviews in general, when it comes to leaving reviews on restaurant websites and that sort of stuff, you do read a lot of them, don't you? And often the person hasn't eaten there. They've gone to get takeaway and it never arrived. So they give it a one star and slag it off. I think, I don't know if that's completely fair.
Alun:
[20:30] Yeah. Oh, the Mange 2 was lukewarm. By the way, I ate this in front of Coronation Street. Yeah, terrible.
Adam:
[20:38] As soon as, if I'm reading a review of a restaurant that I want to go to, and the first line says, the food arrived cold, we only live 30 minutes away. I think, how about you go to the restaurant? How about you just get off your, and go to the restaurant. Okay, because a restaurant is not defined by its takeaway food. I'll tell you that for free.
Alun:
[20:55] It's a valid point, well made, Adam, but you know what we have to do now? We have to pitch those two reviews to Vagabot and see where it would want to stay.
Vagabot 3000:
[21:05] Vagabot 3000's decision. Adam's Hostel. Why? Because I want to freeze overnight to a backdrop of nauseating smells and a dilapidated structure, only to be scolded by an authoritative manager. That's authenticity. And I want it. Book me in, baby. Peace.
Alun:
[21:24] Oh, Adam, you win that round. Vagabot decided that your hostel was the more authentic of the two.
Adam:
[21:31] Yeah, I can't blame him at all. I am going to reveal the name of the hostel now as Freedom Hostel. So there you go, guys. If you go to Rosario and you're in minus four degrees weather and you want a really authentic experience, go and stay at Freedom Hostel.
Alun:
[21:49] Yeah, or perhaps you have a little kink for authoritative managers. You know where to find one. It's Freedom in Rosario.
Tales of a Trip
Alun:
[21:59] Adam, we're quickly approaching my favourite, your favourite, the listeners' favourite section of the show, where we hear from members of our community as they tell their greatest travel stories, the most beautiful sunset, the most potent bit of food, the most gorgeous partner they've ever met whilst traversing this great, big, beautiful, blue marble called Earth. You can send in your greatest travel story by going to tripologypodcast.com forward slash tales of a trip and the listener we're about to hear did exactly that you got three minutes tell us your greatest travel story.
Tales of a Trip:
[22:33] Hello adam and Alun i wanted to tell you my tales of a trip which involves two pieces of advice that got me traveling at a time when i really needed a change of lifestyle i basically grew up in a very small town and in my younger days got into some very destructive habits which meant my future was
looking very bleak and rather short to be perfectly honest I knew I needed to change I just didn't know how to do it until one day I met a person in a bar who when I was telling them about how much I would love to do some overseas travel but don't know where to start they gave me a beautiful piece some advice and they said set a date just set a date and it will give you something to work towards so the very next day I did that I set a date about a year from the time that conversation took place and what that did was it gave me momentum it gave me a point to work towards to save money to get visas organized to get luggage to tie up loose ends and even though I had to change that date and push it back another six months the ball was already rolling I already had that momentum and I was already on my way. I was traveling overseas for the first time, getting away from these destructive habits, which was fantastic. The second piece of advice I got was from somebody who had left their home country to live in Australia. And they said, when you arrive overseas.
Tales of a Trip:
[24:01] Give it six months. You're going to get homesick. Things aren't going to go exactly as you planned. That's all part of the process, but give it six months. You'll regret it if you buy a plane ticket home within that six-month period. And that was a magnificent piece of advice because when I got there, things turned pear-shaped a little bit. For a while, I was homeless. I'd come down to my last little bit of money. I didn't know what to do. I was severely homesick and I really really wanted to return home but I promised myself I'd give myself that six months and I struggled through things came good and by the time that six months came around I was back on my feet and it led to five and a half years travel abroad which were by far the best days of my life it got me out of these destructive habits it opened my eyes to new cultures to new people to new things to new tastes things that you can't get from instagram or from watching the news you know um you have to be there you have to experience a place for yourself and, i just wanted to share that bit of advice and i really hope it helps some of your listeners out there um if you if you're not knowing where to start set a date number one and when you get on that plane when you arrive at your destination. Give yourself six months and you never know what magnificent things will come from that. You'll return home a better person. Thanks guys.
Listener's Life-Changing Advice
Alun:
[25:29] Oh, what a beautiful message. Thank you so much for getting in touch. Thank you so much for sending us that. I mean, a man after our own heart in the sense that that's a piece of advice that we often espouse, isn't it? Just set a date. Commit to going on a specific date, regardless of what happens. Just say, you know, I can't take any more appointments, obligations after that set date. Just get off. No return flight. I think it's a really good bit of advice.
Adam:
[25:54] Yeah it was incredible message and uh what what wonderful message to send certainly i mean it was very heartfelt very honest and vulnerable uh talking about sort of some destructive habits and obviously to have the self-awareness to know that it was probably the environment as well that certainly wasn't helping the situation and if that was what lit the blue touch paper and then got him off his uh backside to go and explore elsewhere i mean we've been in situations like that i mean i remember when i booked that flight over to russia and you know i guess for me it wasn't necessarily waiting six months but i was offered a sabbatical by my business and they said if you come back you can have your old job back and i spoke to my parents about it and they said just take it just take it but i knew that that would give me an easy option b and i said no and that was something like that just keeps you going it keeps that momentum going it helps you push through those difficult times so hats off to you mate thanks so much for sending it in it's.
Alun:
[26:49] A somewhat confronting message I think in some ways because if someone was to approach me and say hey I really want to go traveling but by doing so I'm putting myself at significant risk of of being homeless I don't have the capacity to keep on going traveling for a long time and I'm refusing to go back to my home country for or not able to go back to my home country for whatever reason, I think I would probably advise against them going. But then this listener told us that through persevering and being away from bad habits, he was able to sort of build and, ended up in a situation where he was back on his feet which we all know traveling is a great environment to do in a lot of ways so what would you make of all that mate.
Adam:
[27:35] I think that the only i guess the only advice i'm able to give is probably attached to my own experience of travel and i've been very fortunate and so have you with um the the opportunities we've had available to us But it doesn't mean that what we've done is easy. And I think knowing when to call it a day is probably an important skill that you can employ when you travel. If you go abroad and you are getting low and I mean that amount might be different to me than it is to you than it is to anyone listening to this show but you you have to know what else you have to do once it starts to go wrong or once you start to you need to start changing plans or maybe even countries so I would probably discourage people from going if they themselves don't think they've got anywhere near enough money or maybe they haven't got the skills they might need once they hit the ground run once they hit the ground sorry in in whichever country they choose um but because i've had times when i've thought it's been pretty tough or it's going to be tough and then i've pushed through those and what's on the other side has been absolutely incredible far more than i could have ever imagined there's part of me that would still try and encourage the person to go and go and explore that.
Alun:
[28:57] And use travel as a vector for positive change i think it's really important to touch on the fact that it was said there at the end of the message that travel has the capacity to to be the best thing and make you a better person and i absolutely concur with that if the person traveling makes a vested effort to to to be a better person travel in itself, doesn't do anything other than provide you with exposure to lots of different environmental factors which can help you be the best of yourself you can go traveling and just absolutely carry on being the same person that you were in your home country but now on a beach but if you go traveling and make use of the resources you have available to you in the community in the local community and the travel community of wherever you find yourself you can absolutely become a more broad minded more kind open individual and there is a great capacity to kind of get your head straight and and be the best version of yourself and use travel as a vector to do that so thank you so much for sending in that message at tripologypodcast.com forward slash tales of a trip and all the best to you going forward.
Adam:
[30:10] Yeah i think that is a beautiful place to end the episode mate I've loved chatting to you this week, and I've got so much more to talk to you about in the Lost and Found section, which is found at patreon.com forward slash Tripology Podcast. There have been some big events that we're going to chat about, and I look forward to speaking to you then.
Alun:
[30:26] Okay, well, let's go to the Lost and Found section. See you over on Patreon. We'll see you there.
Adam:
[30:30] Bye.
