If I FAIL, I'll QUIT Travelling: Travel Quiz 2025
In this episode of Tripology: Travel Podcast, the stakes are higher than ever before, as Alun puts it all on the line in the most nerve-wracking edition of Tripping Point yet. If he fails, he'll quit travelling! Will Alun be crowned travel quiz champion or will he be on the next flight home?
We discuss how to stay fit whilst backpacking, and share how we build exercise into our travel plans. We also hear a heartfelt message from a listener in this week's Tales of a Trip, proving that travel gives you the time and space to gain new perspectives. Tune in for travel trivia, backpacking tips, and stories from the road... This episode is not to be missed!
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
01:47 - Tripology Podcast origin story (teaser)
03:23 - Adam's heading back to Queenstown, New Zealand
05:26 - Exercise: How to stay fit whilst backpacking
10:18 - Travel Quiz: Tripping Point begins
23:22 - Tales of a Trip: Listener submission
26:42 - Our final thoughts and reflections
How many Tripping Point questions did you answer correctly? Submit your travel stories to: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
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Transcript
Alun:
[0:02] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology, the only show where the hosts are moving about the globe constantly. I'm Alun and I'm here with one of the travel greats, my best friend, it's the ever departing, Adam.
Adam:
[0:16] Yeah, mate, this is the last one we're going to be recording together in person. It's a bit of a sad one, but a bit of a fun one nonetheless. On this week's show, we've got everyone's favourite travel quiz, a little tripping point, and And then we've got, quickly, what is becoming the best segment of the show is Tales of a Trip at the end.
Alun:
[0:31] Tales of a Trip, where travellers from all over the globe send in their favourite travel stories. New listeners of the show, of which there are many, won't know this, but sometimes we record the show remotely. Because we're both travelling about all over the place, I'm now going to stay in the Philippines, you're going to go off back to New Zealand. The show doesn't suffer from the absence. If anything, absence makes the show grow stronger. you're off doing your thing it's seamlessly edited so it seems like we're in the same room so enjoy that i love the
Adam:
[1:01] Way that we've built this show i love the way that we've built this sort of around the globe so that actually necessitates us to travel in order to record it together.
Alun:
[1:08] Yeah it's a hungry ravenous tripological beast isn't it but i like the show when we're together because obviously we've got that in-person rapport but when we're remote i quite like it as well because it's a weekly catch-up i would call you once a week anyway Yeah. So it feels like I'm just calling my best friend, but there just happens to be a microphone there. I like it.
Adam:
[1:26] When the camera's not rolling and when the microphone's not recording, for the rest of the time, we're pretty much just walking around talking about the show, or we're in a cafe not walking, but still talking about the show. I mean, it really is an absolutely full-time job. But fingers crossed, when I leave, I think you've got some pretty exciting things coming up, haven't you?
Alun:
[1:43] There is some exciting stuff planned for the Trypological future. I mean, if you're not on our Patreon, patreon.com forward slash Trypology podcast, I'd say now's the time, because we're releasing a special Genesis episode where we talk all about how we met. fundamentally a crazy story there's animals there's drugs there's pandemic travel there's bending of all sorts of crazy travel rules not government rules don't panic uh
Adam:
[2:10] Some would argue it's a little bit irresponsible however if it wasn't for that if it wasn't for the aforementioned bending of the rules yeah maybe tripology wouldn't exist.
Alun:
[2:18] It was all legal it was all legal what happened but we were just taking some liberties there's i was on a game show in the uk yeah some of our fans know about that's why it's called tripping point you know coming up later on actually
Adam:
[2:30] The further you go back the more incredible it gets so i am really looking forward to that if you haven't signed up to the patreon yet do because immediately after this recording we are going to be recording that episode and then it's going to be up by the time you hear this anyway but it is in when you think about what's happened as a result of that one fateful evening.
Alun:
[2:48] Yeah it's many hours of audio in it that's happened as a result that one thing like you know when scientists go oh the big bang it created all this stuff all matter and existence exploded across the universe from that one moment it was that one moment on the farm that resulted in all of these audio recordings and thousands of you listening in to talk about travel with us it's really amazing yeah people
Adam:
[3:12] Go god you too the dynamic between you the chemistry you have the bond that you have as two best mates i mean in fairness we don't really have a choice.
Alun:
[3:18] No it's literally an essential thing and we'll talk about that in patreon but adam i'm gonna miss you mate you're leaving going back to backpacker mecca backpacker haven one of the most touristically beautiful places in new zealand you're off to queenstown i
Adam:
[3:34] Am a bit of a dirty travel journey i'm going from here from manila somewhere that's pretty warm almost oppressively hot and humid i've really enjoyed being here but i'm going all the way back to australia i'm going of Brisbane. I've got a horrible 21-hour layover. Maybe I'll ask ChatGPT, aka Vagabot3000 on what I should be doing, apart from getting a haircut obviously, thank you for noticing. And then on to Queenstown, so it's just a little three and a half hour flight the day after, and then there. I'm going to be for the next sort of six months. So if you are in Queenstown and you are listening to this, come and say hello. That'd be amazing.
Alun:
[4:06] If you're a hairdresser maybe, who fancies doing some charity work, we've got a host going begging.
Adam:
[4:12] And if you're a fan of the show, great. If you're not, still come and say hi. that'll be fine i'll convert you.
Alun:
[4:16] Yeah exactly he will mate you're off doing that so we'll hear stories about queenstown in the near future i'm gonna basically set up shop in the philippines i'm gonna set up podcast recording studio somewhere like sarjao maybe palawan yeah yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna kind of focus on recording and growing the show and getting some much needed rigorous exercise in because as you know the whole of 2024 I was just traveling yeah I was going around India I was going around Pakistan and then I was in Brazil for the first half of this year I really want to buckle down. You know that I love jiu-jitsu.
Adam:
[4:55] I know you love it. I love surfing.
Alun:
[4:57] I love keeping fit on the road. I'm basically going to buckle down and just get some jiu-jitsu surfing in, man. I'm going to focus on work and fitness.
Adam:
[5:04] That's one amazing way to stay fit while you're traveling as well. I'm worried I'm not going to be able to recognize you, to be honest.
Alun:
[5:10] I'm going to become unrecognizable either through the process of muscular hypertrophy or sun tanning.
Adam:
[5:17] Sun tanning as well.
Alun:
[5:18] I'm going to get all sun because of the surfing. What about the wetsuit? I won't be wearing one of those. No wetsuit for me. Just straight naked. But what I am wondering is, how do you feel about staying fit on the road? I know it's a hot topic because travelers, we like to eat all the local foods. We like to go crazy, getting immersed in the culture. And it's sometimes difficult to fit in going to the gym, doing those things. I love jiu-jitsu, and I've not done it for about two years. Has it really been that long? Yeah.
Adam:
[5:45] Oh, my goodness.
Alun:
[5:46] Just because where do you go? Do you drop into jiu-jitsu gyms and say, hi I don't speak the language can I get some tuition I just find it I should be better right it's a flaw of mine
Adam:
[5:55] Yeah I don't.
Alun:
[5:56] Know what to do
Adam:
[5:56] Well I think you've set yourself up for success because you already don't drink hardly ever no and I would say that that's probably the downfall water.
Alun:
[6:04] Or anything I'm just dehydrated as a man
Adam:
[6:07] I would say honestly on this trip in the Philippines we've probably had as much coconut water as we had have actual water yeah easily fair to say and coffee maybe it's a 33% split I'm hyperglycemic, I don't know what that means, but it sounded funny.
Alun:
[6:20] It means sugar's going through my veins.
Adam:
[6:22] Oh, right. So, yeah, you don't have a lot of sugar either. No. So maybe you're not the best representation of most backpackers, because, you know, if we think about 18, 20-year-olds, right the way through to 30, 35-year-olds, if you're backpacking, that comes hand-in-hand with partying. And if you're partying, you're not up at 8 o'clock the next morning in the gym or doing a run. It is pretty difficult. I think, perhaps, on balance, the best way to stay fit whilst you're travelling is if you are interested in things like Mai Tai, Jiu Jitsu, like me on my bike in Taiwan, I was shredded to shit, man.
Alun:
[6:54] Hiking as well, right? So many travelers love to hike and it kind of keeps them fit. Rarely do you, like I think travelers in general, they're in good shape because of all the like hiking and things like that they're doing. But it's difficult to do focused exercise activities.
Adam:
[7:10] Yeah, yeah.
Alun:
[7:10] For a whole year and some of that year I spent traveling, I got really into calisthenics. Oh, yeah. And I think that's quite good for travelers. Because you can drop and do some push-ups and sit-ups anywhere in the world, right?
Adam:
[7:23] It takes a lot of motivation, though, doesn't it?
Alun:
[7:25] It does, yeah. Do you know what I do? I like challenges. I'm a very goal-oriented person. Yeah. And once I got into a streak of doing 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups every single day, once you're three months in, you can't bear to break the streak. I was camping out in the wilderness. Yeah, yeah. And the person I was with, I was like, i'm just going to do 100 sit-ups if you don't mind because it's like day 300 and i don't want to break the streak so i was just there in the tent doing crunches yeah i think it's good to get into habits like
Adam:
[7:51] That you just tweaked a memory of mine do you remember we were on the farm and we're doing chin-ups on the barn yeah the beam that was going across the bar we would climb up haystacks that were probably like seven or eight stories tall right up until the top so we could get the the beams that would go across the supporting beams in the barn and we would sit there and do sort of chin-ups you know 15 at a time or whatever finished.
Alun:
[8:09] Collecting the chicken's eggs and then much to the chickens dismay, I mean, imagine it from their perspective. You've laid these eggs and these homo sapien simian creatures, these primates have gone and taken your eggs, right? put them in a bucket, and then gone into your house, your home, your barn, gripped the ceiling, and they're just lifting their own weight. I mean, it was a wild thing for a chicken to observe.
Adam:
[8:33] God, I miss that farm. That barn's so funny, isn't it? Do you remember the feeling of elation when you found a secret stash of chicken's eggs?
Alun:
[8:40] Sometimes you would find a secret trail of chicken's feet, not severed, just the footprints of a chicken going through one of the haystacks, and then you'd find a clutch of like 10, 15, 20 eggs all scurried behind the hay bales.
Adam:
[8:56] Yeah, I mean, I'll never forget the sort of screech of those hens because they don't want you to find their eggs. They're incredibly protective over the eggs, aren't they? But God, I miss those days. I miss those days when we'd just go out in the morning or of an evening searching the hay bales for those eggs. Yeah. Sweet, sweet, sweet eggs.
Alun:
[9:13] Well, we weren't good at looking for those eggs as well because the owner once said to you something quite derogatory, didn't they, about your egg-finding abilities.
Adam:
[9:19] If I ever came back with a lower amount of eggs, much lower than the estimated catch for that day, I would often get the comment, oh, you've looked like a man would. You haven't looked properly. You've just done a man check.
Alun:
[9:31] You've searched like a male. Yeah. And then she would go out and inevitably be able to know exactly where the hidden clutches were.
Adam:
[9:38] I'm pretty sure she was planting those eggs, Alun.
Alun:
[9:39] Yeah, exactly, man. She was sneaking in at night. Oh, they won't look good. It was like Easter morning every day on that farm, wasn't it?
Adam:
[9:47] They're just the same 11 eggs that they would plant every day.
Alun:
[9:50] But I mean, imagine if we could find a way to keep fit on that farm by doing pull-ups in a hay barn. Yeah. Then I imagine, you know, we can really do better as travellers. I'm glad that I've got the time to focus on jiu-jitsu, but maybe I'll start that calisthenics routine. Maybe the tripological audience can join me. If you're in hostels listening to this right now, get down and give me 50 push-ups.
Adam:
[10:08] Well, we're not going to work your body right now, mate, but we are going to work your mind. I'm looking forward to the next section of the episode where we're going to have a backpacking special. It's Tripping Point.
Alun:
[10:16] Let's go.
Adam:
[10:27] Straight into everyone's favourite travel quiz is Tripping Point, mate. How do you feel?
Alun:
[10:31] I feel nervous, as I normally do when we enter Tripping Point. So, I'm ready. What kind of topic are we dealing with today?
Adam:
[10:38] It's just a general backpacking... Because you've been on the road 10, 11 years now, you're in a backpacking hub such as the Philippines, very, very popular destination, and I'm leaving, I thought, why not get a load of questions that are just about your general backpacking knowledge. Even through osmosis, you should know all of the answers to these questions.
Alun:
[10:55] Okay, so it's almost like a backpacker rating that I get after doing this. You're like testing how good of a backpacker I really am.
Adam:
[11:02] Yeah, yeah. How much you've been concentrating over the last 10 years of your travel.
Alun:
[11:05] Well, I fancy my chances. Is there a prize or any steaks that you've prepared for me, or are we just free-balling it?
Adam:
[11:11] We're going to have to come up with one on the spot. I mean, we are hopefully going to a nice market later on.
Alun:
[11:16] You'll buy me dinner if I get more than three?
Adam:
[11:19] How hungry are you?
Alun:
[11:21] Fairly.
Adam:
[11:21] Okay, cool.
Alun:
[11:22] Okay, dinner's on you if I get more than three. Let's go.
Adam:
[11:24] And we'll take pictures of it as usual.
Alun:
[11:26] I also want you to review my backpacker experience. If I get five out of five, I want you to tell me that you think I'm great at travelling. If I get four, I want you to say, oh, you know, there's room for improvement. You know those quizzes you do online? You're like, oh, what kind of vampire are you? And you answer some questions. It's like, oh, you're a pure blood vampire.
Adam:
[11:47] I love the fact that this is what it boils down to. It's not reductive in any way, shape or form. Even if you get one out of five, it just completely erases your 10 years of travel.
Alun:
[11:53] If I get one out of five, I'm quitting travelling. I'm done. I'm going to go to the airport with you this evening and fly back to Manchester if I get one out of five. So the stakes are high. The highest stakes of tripping point ever.
Adam:
[12:08] Oh my goodness. Okay.
Alun:
[12:09] I'm going to look straight at the camera, Adam, because I can see you've got some questions up on your laptop down there in the corner. I don't want to look at them.
Adam:
[12:14] On your head be it. Yeah. Here we go. Question number one. What is the origin of the term digital nomad? Is it A, a marketing slogan by Apple in the 1990s? Is it B, a term coined in a 1997 book about remote working? Is it a travel blog post that went viral in 2010? Or a UN tourism category for remote workers?
Alun:
[12:39] I think, Adam, it's from a blog post. You know why I think that? I think it's as new as 2010. I'd not heard the word before that really. Digital nomad. Yeah, I think it's from a blog post in 2010.
Adam:
[12:52] I'm afraid it's incorrect.
Alun:
[12:54] Wow, earlier than that.
Adam:
[12:55] Yeah, the correct answer is that it was a term coined in a 1997 book about remote working. Book Digital Nomad by Tsugia Makimoto and David Manners predicted how technology would allow people to work from anywhere long before it became mainstream.
Alun:
[13:11] I find that really interesting because I started traveling in 2015 and I wasn't hearing the word digital nomad bandied around at all.
Adam:
[13:19] I guess because it didn't exist.
Alun:
[13:20] Well it did though didn't it apparently it
Adam:
[13:22] Was coined yeah yeah the term did but maybe the culture didn't.
Alun:
[13:25] Okay well interesting i'm a little bit scared now because i've basically got four opportunities to avoid a plane ride this evening and
Adam:
[13:32] You are a man of your word we have heard on previous episodes you talking about what are the odds.
Alun:
[13:35] Yeah i do what i say i will do almost all the time so let's go i've got uh if we get if
Adam:
[13:41] We get to four questions and uh and you still haven't got one right i think the next question is going to be what's my name.
Alun:
[13:46] Oh god the pressure steve
Adam:
[13:51] You're not really my cousin um so anyway here we go question number two yeah which country has the most official languages at the national level is it a switzerland is it b south africa is it c bolivia or is it d india.
Alun:
[14:08] The most official languages at the national level i think so this is one of those confusing things right because switzerland surely is no no i think i think the answer's got to be india i worry that india might go no it's just hindi and english it's just hindi and english and and don't worry about all those states in the south the west all that stuff so Up in the northwest,
Adam:
[14:35] Where they might speak a bit of Urdu.
Alun:
[14:36] Whereas Switzerland might go, listen, everyone, we're just neutral. We've got a bit of English, a little bit of German, a little bit of French, and a little bit of Polish. But no, I'm going to say India. I think fair is fair. It's India, surely.
Adam:
[14:51] It's Bolivia. And I know this is incredible.
Alun:
[14:54] What?
Adam:
[14:55] It's a curveball. Bolivia officially recognizes... Spanish! ...37 languages, including...
Alun:
[15:01] Tribal languages. Quechua.
Adam:
[15:03] Yes, mate. Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, and 34 other indigenous tongues, all at national level.
Alun:
[15:10] I can't believe it.
Adam:
[15:12] This is crazy.
Alun:
[15:13] Oh, my goodness. You wouldn't have got that, would you?
Adam:
[15:15] No. I wouldn't.
Alun:
[15:16] Goodness me.
Adam:
[15:17] I wouldn't have got it. I wouldn't have got it. What would I have gone for, actually? Maybe I would have said...
Alun:
[15:21] India. India, most people would say India, surely. There's so many. It is just Hindi and English, isn't it? That's the only ones they recognize. Obviously, there's Keralan, there's Tamil Nadu. I don't know what they speak in Tamil Nadu.
Adam:
[15:32] Tamil.
Alun:
[15:33] Tamil, yeah. I'm pretty sure, yeah.
Adam:
[15:34] Urdu, obviously.
Alun:
[15:35] Urdu, obviously.
Adam:
[15:35] Maybe don't mention that on the show. Goodness me. Okay, here we go. Number three. Which UNESCO World Heritage Site receives the most annual visitors? Is it A, the Great Wall of China? Is it B, the Eiffel Tower in France? Is it C, Machu Picchu in Peru? Or is it D, the historic centre of Rome?
Alun:
[15:54] I'm breathing a sigh of relief, Adam, because I happen to know that France receives more tourism than any other country in the world. So it has to be the Eiffel Tower.
Adam:
[16:04] I'm afraid the answer is the Great Wall of China.
Alun:
[16:08] How can that possibly be true? Because... If France receives the most tourism.
Adam:
[16:13] Because the question is, which UNESCO World Heritage Site receives the most annual visitors?
Alun:
[16:17] Oh, and Eiffel Tower is not a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Adam:
[16:19] I mean, maybe it is, but it doesn't necessarily specify international visitors.
Alun:
[16:24] What? Say it again? Oh, right.
Adam:
[16:27] So it could be visitors from elsewhere in China.
Alun:
[16:30] A trick question.
Adam:
[16:32] Those sneaky Chinese going to their own monuments. I don't know how far away you have to live from a UNESCO World Heritage Site to be called a visitor if you visit it. I just don't have those figures available to me.
Alun:
[16:47] Hold on, have I got no questions right so far?
Adam:
[16:49] You've got no questions right so far.
Alun:
[16:50] Do you know what the horrible thing is? I, like, with the last two, I was so confident. Yeah. I approached them like... Well, is there two questions left?
Adam:
[16:59] There's two questions left. I've even included a bonus question, so we might be able to...
Alun:
[17:03] Because my claim at the start of this was, if I get one out of five, I'm getting on a plane to Manchester.
Adam:
[17:10] Oh, crap.
Alun:
[17:10] So I actually have to get 100%. So I hope they get easier. I hope, unlike any other quiz in tribological history, these questions get easier as they go on.
Adam:
[17:19] Yeah, I mean, what do you want me to do? Could I maybe make a signal under the table?
Alun:
[17:24] No, we've got fair is fair.
Adam:
[17:26] Fair is fair. You know the rules.
Alun:
[17:28] Fair is fair. I mean, I would be interested to hear, link to our socials down in the description, how is the audience doing? Because I've been confident with some of my answers, and I do consider myself a backpacking expert.
Adam:
[17:38] Yeah, well, yeah, play along at home by all means. I'm sure you guys do. Who wrote these questions?
Alun:
[17:41] Did Vagabot write these?
Adam:
[17:42] I had some help from Vagabot.
Alun:
[17:43] Right. I was going to say, because these seem like the kind of questions that Vagabot would do to trip me up. Vagabot, of course, is our backpacking AI here on Tropology.
Adam:
[17:50] Yeah, so I work together with Vagabot, and I basically, over a short time, i just come up with loads of questions that things that i want to know things that vagabond things are interesting yeah and then we basically max the difficulty yeah.
Alun:
[18:04] Well you know i can tell because that fucking eiffel tower question is the kind of devious bullshit that that ai comes up with
Adam:
[18:10] What's that are we sure he's listening okay okay.
Alun:
[18:14] Let's go here we go
Adam:
[18:15] Number four what is the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world as of 2025 okay is it a new york to singapore is it b dubai to auckland is it c london to sydney or is it d doha to los angeles.
Alun:
[18:33] Now, New York to Singapore, final answer.
Adam:
[18:35] Nailed it. Nailed it.
Alun:
[18:37] Knew that one. Knew that one already? Yeah.
Adam:
[18:38] Really?
Alun:
[18:39] I knew that one, yeah. I actually think we talked about it in a very early episode of Tripology. Really? Like way, way back, like a year and a half ago.
Adam:
[18:47] That's an amazing memory. Thank you so much. I've got the total, I mean, I'm not going to tell you the kilometres because no one cares, but I can tell you how long it is. How long do you think it is? Have you any idea?
Alun:
[18:58] 20 hours.
Adam:
[18:58] It's less. It's 18 hours and 40. that is a bloody long time to spend on a plane my goodness, a couple of movies for sure alright.
Alun:
[19:05] So that's one in the bank I feel good about that man
Adam:
[19:09] You shouldn't because I've just seen the next question.
Alun:
[19:11] Well there's a bonus question as well though, thank goodness I'm going to count that, if I get this one and a bonus one then it's alright
Adam:
[19:18] Because Manchester is not that attractive here we go, number 5 which of the following cities is not a part of the traditional Silk Road now this is something that's dear to my heart the Silk Road. It's something I said to myself 10-15 years ago. I will walk cycle, hitchhike something the Silk Road one day and that will most likely be with you.
Alun:
[19:39] Okay.
Adam:
[19:40] Alright? So which one of the following cities is not part of the traditional Silk Road? Is it A. Samarkand in Uzbekistan? Is it B. Bukhara in Uzbekistan? Is it C. Xi'an in China? Or is it D. Istanbul in Turkey?
Alun:
[19:56] Wow. Listen, mate. This ain't my strong point.
Adam:
[20:01] Right.
Alun:
[20:03] Well, I guess my only thing to go on here is that I know Uzbekistan features, there's a lot of Silk Road going through that country.
Adam:
[20:11] Okay. Yeah, cool.
Alun:
[20:12] So I'm going to say both those Uzbekistan cities are part of the Silk Road.
Adam:
[20:18] Strong methodology. Okay.
Alun:
[20:19] Yeah. I like your reaction to that. I also know.
Adam:
[20:22] I wear my heart on my sleeve. It's easy to tell.
Alun:
[20:24] I'm pretty confident that Istanbul was a big part of the Silk Road and trade. So I'm going to say it's that Chinese one.
Adam:
[20:35] It's wrong. It's wrong. The Silk Road started somewhere around Xi'an.
Alun:
[20:41] So Istanbul's not in the Silk Road?
Adam:
[20:42] It says, while Istanbul is a historic trade hub, the classical Silk Road terminated in Antioch, modern-day Turkey-Syria border. Did you go anywhere near there, by the way? No. When you were in Turkey?
Alun:
[20:53] Yeah, no, I did go to the Syrian border.
Adam:
[20:55] Yeah, around Antioch. Does that ring any bells?
Alun:
[20:57] Well, it was near where Abraham was born. I've forgotten the name of the place, but yeah, I've been around there.
Adam:
[21:04] That's in a different quiz. Goodness me. Okay, the pressure's on, the pressure's on.
Alun:
[21:07] It really is, isn't it?
Adam:
[21:09] What's strange about this as well is the question that I've lined up as the bonus question, which I rarely do.
Alun:
[21:14] Is… It's almost as if you knew.
Adam:
[21:17] It's so up your street, it's crazy. Right, okay. And it is about modern day travel. It forms an integral part of modern day travel, not just for the average backpacker, but for you specifically.
Alun:
[21:27] Okay, well, I'm ready.
Adam:
[21:28] If you don't know this, I am going to shed a tear. in digital nomad communities yeah what does the acronym vpn stand for is it a virtual personal node is it b virtual private network is it c verified payment network or d virtual public nexus.
Alun:
[21:52] Okay well thank i'm pretty confident unless unless you and vagabond of like it's one of those things where like people think it's a virtual private network but actually it's something else i feel quite sure that is virtual hold on private network though because it's not private i
Adam:
[22:17] Think i think if there's ever a time you should go with your gut yeah well this is the first tripping point that we've done in the history of the show where the audience are sweating.
Alun:
[22:26] Bullets no no i'm pretty do you know what it is though is you doubt yourself when you're in moments like this where your whole life and your livelihood is on the line but i did know straight away there was virtual private network but it's weird because because not private because it's like you can just sign in like nordvpn they have a bunch of them and everyone goes to one of them but it is I know it's Virtual Private Network. We've literally sold ads for a VPN company on this show. So I'm going to say, Virtual Private Network, I really want to keep on traveling, Adam.
Adam:
[22:58] We can all breathe a sigh of relief, guys. There it is. Two out of six. You're safe. You don't have to go back to Manchester. You can stay in the Philippines. You can do your jiu-jitsu. You can do your surfing.
Alun:
[23:07] But I'm buying you dinner tonight. But for a bonus point question, which was gifted by you and Vagabot, I mean, thank you so much.
Adam:
[23:16] My goodness, how's it feel?
Alun:
[23:18] Sickening. nice man that was one of my favorite tripping points it
Adam:
[23:24] Has to be done it has to be the best.
Alun:
[23:26] Horrible it's
Adam:
[23:28] Just fantastic content all around we were i felt like we were really ourselves in yeah.
Alun:
[23:32] Yeah yeah it was good it was good no because i was i was in i was like worried because i didn't know i didn't know what to um if i got it wrong we'd just be like oh only joking those were hard though yeah
Adam:
[23:46] A couple of curveballs in there.
Alun:
[23:48] Um okay
Adam:
[23:50] Serves you right for putting the stakes so fucking high.
Alun:
[23:55] We started it out i'm glad you had that fucking bonus question
Adam:
[23:58] Yeah i mean it was it was going to make it into the main quiz but i thought it was so easy but then when i looked at the other options i was like oh fuck they're plausible.
Alun:
[24:06] Yeah that eiffel tower one's crazy is that definitely true you know chat gpt hallucinates a lot you've got to check that what it says is true uh okay if you're using if you're using vagabond you should always check that what his answers are the answers just going forward okay did you not no you always need you need to i
Adam:
[24:27] Mean i could imagine the world the great wall of china be just purely by number the amount of chinese.
Alun:
[24:32] Yeah yeah no i'm saying i'm it's going
Adam:
[24:34] Forward i will yeah i'll do some.
Alun:
[24:35] Cross-checking yeah because i'm going to check and if it's wrong i'm going to destroy you in the next episode delete
Adam:
[24:41] The episode yeah um are we doing the.
Alun:
[24:44] Tales of a trip getting jealous of i think so okay cool okay recovering slowly from the sickening feeling in my stomach of having nearly lost my whole life and livelihood on the road i uh i'm gonna move swiftly on to my favorite item on the show tales of a trip where listeners can send in their greatest travel stories you go It's tropology.com, tropologypodcast.com forward slash tales of a trip. You can record a three-minute message there, your best travel story, and one listener has done just that. Let's listen to what they have to say.
Tales of a Trip:
[25:18] And I'm from British Columbia, Canada. At 30 years old, I went my first backpacking trip. My partner and I traveled Central America and Mexico for three and a half months. He is a well-traveled individual, having been on many family holiday trips as a child, moving from Scotland to Canada and traveling South America for nine months. I, on the other hand, have been on the plane a few times in my adult life within Canada and mostly just Victoria and Vancouver. He has grandiose stories from all of his travels. while I have the checkmark stories of the career route, getting a job, running the university, signing on to a continuing contract, and getting my master's during COVID to further solidify my permanent position. When I turned 30, I decided that I needed to travel. I was jealous of these experiences he had and wanted the same. In retrospect, not the best mindset to have while planning a trip. We started our trip in Costa Rica and many people were traveling south, but we were heading north. He gave lots of amazing recommendations sharing incredible stories of the mountains he summited in Patagonia, the breathtaking views in Machu Picchu, and the culture and party life in the past. All the while, we had been visiting beach after beach, failing miserably,
Tales of a Trip:
[26:29] Trying to surf, and eating rice and beans daily. I felt the green-eyed monster taking over and comparing these fantastical adventure stories he was sharing with the, to me, in the moment of jealousy, underwhelming experiences we were having. I felt like I wasn't a good travel partner and our trip would never measure up. to what he's experienced and that he realized that i ultimately didn't measure up with each story he shared the more i began to doubt myself and the choice of our destination i lived in this moment for a while during our trip watching his reaction to the places we visited the histories we learned and the people we became friends with it wasn't until i was standing on the streets of santa ana in el salvador on new year's eve with fireworks lighting up the sky and tears in my eyes that I realized I had bought into this glamorized version of travel that isn't real. While he had had incredible experiences, he also had moments we were having on ours. Waiting for hours in a bus station, missing events we wanted to go to, sleeping in an airport, and getting sick from food poisoning. In that moment, I knew that it was enough that I was with my partner exploring the places we had never been.
Tales of a Trip:
[27:37] I forgot about how important that experience was to me. Having learned how to pack a backpack quickly and efficiently, speak broken Spanish to get around, and get used to constantly being on the go. It was also in this moment that I realized the partner I was traveling with is the love of my life. Travel opens up parts of you that are vulnerable. I showed him my insecurities, my fears, and spoke truths I'd never shared with anyone. And for that, I will forever be thankful for travel. Thanks for listening.
Alun:
[28:09] What a beautiful, beautiful message. Thank you, Bea, for sending that in. That was really lovely to listen to.
Adam:
[28:15] Yeah, absolutely incredible. Heartfelt and vulnerable, like she said, and just beautiful. I mean, what an amazing speaker, first and foremost.
Alun:
[28:23] Yeah, what an amazing speaker, what an amazing speech. And my goodness, if it doesn't say something very poignant about travel itself, because we all strive for travel to be the thing we think it's going to be. yeah i know that i did when i first went traveling i was looking at travel to be the thing which solved all of my problems yeah i thought it was going to be that thing with which i could perform all the things i wanted to be and and b shared that she had that same thought she thought it was going to be the exact kind of trip that she'd heard her partner talk about before when actually all that travel needs to be is experience a continuation of your life a place where you can take a breath and realize the fundamental things that you need to learn about yourself as you go through.
Adam:
[29:10] Yeah, I mean, I can relate completely because I do fall victim to living in the past or living in the future. And I remember many times, I mean, it even happens to be in Albie where, you know, I regret not having done more or maybe I arrived to a place. I remember when I started traveling when I was 24, 25, and I used to regret not having started earlier. So it is pretty difficult. And I think what this highlights is that you've gone away for a number of months with someone who, okay, they are more well-traveled, your partner's more well-traveled than you are. Maybe that added to your experience. I hope it was of benefit in general. But the kind of trips now that we're seeing big, big tour companies put together, huge travel companies that offer this, you know, tightly packaged, nice and shiny, three weeks in Colombia, all that sort of stuff, trip for two and a half, $3,000 or whatever. I'm not sure whether you've reached that level when you go on these trips. In order to feel what Bea is feeling emotionally and the attachment to travel or, you know, even these dark and dirty moments, you're not going to get that on a trip if you just go away with a tour company for two or three weeks. It sounds like she's really experienced what travel means to us.
Alun:
[30:17] Yeah, well, what I think the listeners can take away from Bea's message is that, I mean, what maturity and introspection it takes, and this is something we should all strive to, is for her to have taken a moment and been like, okay, I'm feeling this thing that's not positive. let me think about that meditate on it perceive that deeply and then find work my way to communicating a solution to that be it with myself or with my partner think about oh hold on i'm kind of feeling jealous does that really matter analyzing that feeling coming to a conclusion and ultimately having this declaration of like yeah okay this is the person i'm meant to be with that's beautiful and i think travel fundamentally awards you that space to think deeply like that if you allow it to
Adam:
[31:04] Yeah i also think as well with with social media and technology and stuff we've seen it's incredibly reductive when it comes to travel in general certainly backpacking it's all of the highlights that make it onto social media and just because the rest of it simply isn't sexy but maybe in the same way that her partner was meeting people as they were passing and telling these amazing stories and maybe you're more likely to focus on the good stuff than you are the bad so i mean what i absolutely love about that story as well is waiting until maybe slightly later in life but still making the decision. How many people do we talk to on a regular basis that have already reached 25, 30, 35? They're in maybe a decent job or a more secure position or they've already put a load down on a house or whatever it might be. And that prohibits them from having this experience. This is exactly what travel is for me. I absolutely love that Bea still took the plunge, went away and had an amazing time as a result.
Alun:
[31:53] Yeah, yeah. Any age, any lifestyle, any life situation, I think there's always a place for travel if you approach it in that cerebral, beautiful open way ready to have new experiences expand your horizons i think it's a beautiful thing thank you so much for sending your message if you have a wonderful travel story topology podcast.com forward slash tales of a trip if you want to send us an email or get into our social media have a look at what we have to offer all the links for that are down in the description right now we're going to go off to our patreon section yeah
Adam:
[32:23] It's the lost and found where Alun's going to turn the table on me a little a little patreon special it's going to be a little 10 quickfire question quiz on world cuisines. If you want to hear that, check it out. Go to patreon.com forward slash dropology podcast. We'll see you there.
Alun:
[32:35] Yes, we'll see you there because if your desire for more quizzing hasn't been sated, let me turn the tables on him, get some revenge. Maybe if you don't get more than two right, you'll have to go home. And apart from that, we'll see you all on the next episode. We'll see you there.
Adam:
[32:49] Bye.
