We Won an Award... then Spotify Blocked Us.
It's been a rollercoaster week here at Tripology Podcast. We're thrilled to announce we won Best Travel & Adventure Podcast at the 2025 Independent Podcast Awards! Spotify then hit us with a false copyright claim and blocked our episodes! We share the stories behind the chaos and discuss what it's like being independent creators.
Hostel Common Room returns with a listener who's about to embark on a 2-year backpacking trip and wants to know the best way to meet like-minded travellers. Tune in for our top travel tips on how to make friends whilst travelling.
This week's Tales of a Trip is not to be missed, as we hear from a well-travelled entrepreneur whose experiences and reflections will spark your wanderlust. Check out his fabulous clothing brand below!
Sundae Garments: https://www.sundaegarments.com/
Elephant Stone's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elephantstone
Submit your travel stories: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tripologypodcast
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Best Travel & Adventure Podcast Award
02:01 - Tripology vs Spotify
06:39 - Alun's inappropriate beach attire
11:44 - Hostel Common Room: How to meet like-minded travellers
22:03 - Tales of a Trip: Vancouver to Antarctica
Need travel insurance? We recommend SafetyWing! Click here to get started: https://safetywing.com/?referenceID=26035801&utm_source=26035801&utm_medium=Ambassador
Require an onward flight? Please use this fantastic flight rental service: https://onwardticket.com/tripologypodcast
Check out our Discord: https://discord.gg/RQ767H9T
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tripologypodcast/
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tripologypodcast
Join us on X: https://x.com/tripologypod
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It means the world.
TRANSCRIPT:
Alun:
[0:02] Hello, and welcome to this episode of Tripology. It's the only travel podcast where the hosts deliberately carry over 100 milliliters in their bags because we love a good pat down. I'm Alun, and I'm here with the ever award-winning.
Adam:
[0:17] Adam you heard that right folks the ever award-winning adam and the ever award-winning Alun we've won an award guys we've won an award what a fantastic thing thank you so much to everyone who's been listening from the beginning we've got a hell of a show for you today i am going to start off by telling you what i've been up to Alun i hope you've got an update for us as well and then we're off to the hostel common room where we have a message from a listener and then of course we go over to tales of a trip at the end where we hear another voice message from one of you guys yes.
Alun:
[0:45] We're the winners the aforementioned award is the independent podcast award we won the travel and adventure category i mean adam i'm grateful to you very very much for joining me and the listeners on this journey and i'm grateful ever so much to the listeners themselves for just making it possible it really just wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for all of you.
Adam:
[1:05] Yeah it's been incredible really hasn't it the recognition the spike in activity since winning the award Instagram's gone off the chain. We've had a load of emails and people contacting us and stuff. So yeah, it's been an amazing reception. It's a hell of a strong title of an award that, isn't it for us?
Alun:
[1:21] It is, yeah.
Adam:
[1:22] The best podcast travel and adventure category. I like it. It's got a ring to it.
Alun:
[1:27] Yeah, we do both of those things sometimes. I was looking over our past episodes and I thought, oh, there's an episode where we were traveling. There's an episode where we were having an adventure it was all very beautiful to regard and everyone's been so so supportive and that's filled my heart with such joy apart from one uh person company entity that decided to take the opportunity to be incredibly unsupportive.
Adam:
[1:52] Yeah i wasn't sure that we were going to go through this but you've mentioned it so we might as well we like to be fairly transparent and honest on this show so we might as well talk about it out in the open.
Alun:
[2:00] Yeah i think we have to talk about it Everyone was so supportive apart from... Spotify, who took the opportunity once we won the Independent Podcast Award to do what can only be described as a false copyright claim on our account. So listeners of the show who use Spotify habitually will notice that last week's episode took it ever such a long time to get up on that platform. Hopefully it's up now, but we apologize for the delay. It's just because Spotify decided to get its great big colossal entity boots out and stamp on Tripology. And we're trying to evade they're stamping currently.
Adam:
[2:36] Yeah it is worrying i mean you realize how vulnerable you are when Spotify just turn off your podcast and you you know my sister texted me last week and she said oh why haven't you released an episode this week little did she know that there's been this whole thing between us and spotify and then the band that we obviously contacted to to use the music and it's the the biggest kick not the biggest kick in the teeth obviously but it is such a sore point i feel like i've been winded because we love that song so much and we're so proud of the theme music and it forms such a massive part of um i guess the identity of the show and for spotify to have said oh we're going to delete your podcast in all of these regions around the world because you haven't got the rights to use that music i feel like we one we do two the band have said we've got no idea what spotify talking about and three it's like we we're such huge fans of that band and went around doing it the exactly the right way and and now um you know like i said you sort of realise how vulnerable you are when you're hosted on this platform and your podcast is out there and they've just gone, sorry, it doesn't meet. I think it was algorithmic actually probably, wasn't it, thinking about it now? It wasn't anything other than that.
Alun:
[3:44] It was one of those algorithmic bands. They don't have their own vagabond over at Spotify, so their AI is a little bit less advanced. But all of that nonsense is to say that the music for the show, Tropology, our intro and outro music, is by a band called Elephant Stone. And throughout all this, they've been ever so supportive and wonderful and brilliant, and their music is great. If you love the Tropology theme tune, go on Instagram, go to Elephant Stone's page. There'll be a link in the description of this episode. And why not send them a little message saying thanks for supporting the guys at Tripology because their music's awesome and they're a great bunch of guys. And just thank you for the bottom of the heart for all the support you've given us over the last couple of weeks and indeed all during our time as Tripology podcasts. We've always had that music and we've always loved it very much. Adam, I am getting ready to leave chargau i'm leaving in just six days time i'm going to go and dive with some threshers hopefully in malapasqua so i'm sort of disassembling the shack i'm sort of slowly putting things in boxes i'm using all my leftover rice and all that jazz and i'm trying to kind of get sorted yeah.
Adam:
[4:56] Well we're all shedding a tear mate have you sort of broken it to the locals yet your landlord landlady i'm sure she knows that you're leaving are you seeing groups of people now are you trying to squeeze people in go for dinners go for one last surf go and see all the jiu-jitsu people down at the gym.
Alun:
[5:11] Yeah certainly if i'd made a lot of friends in chargau that is how i would be spending my time i in actual fact i've been going down to the beach and doing more of the old watching crabs whilst sat lying down on a beach adventure time because you know i um did a lot of jiu-jitsu and surfing in my time in chargau but i wasn't staying in hostels so i wasn't particularly keyed into the backpacker scene. I've led a largely solitary business-like endeavor here, but, I have been getting into quite a lot of mishaps because of, you know, when your mind's elsewhere. My mind's been elsewhere the last week as I've been dealing with the International Podcasting Awards, colossal Swedish companies, and just the act of leaving.
Adam:
[5:59] So you've not been concentrating on what you've been doing. You've been getting involved in mishaps. What sort of shape have they taken, mate? Because you don't strike me as a clumsy person. I mean, I'm proud to say I know you better than most people. You don't do that sort of stuff that often.
Alun:
[6:11] Well, it'd be terrible if I did strike you as a clumsy person because I could hit you anywhere. So clumsy, my aim and accuracy would be ever so off.
Adam:
[6:20] What a clumsy strike from Spotify that was.
Alun:
[6:23] Yeah. Oh, there's clumsy strikes heading all over the place. Some from Alun as he strikes out his caros. Some from big Swedish companies as they arbitrarily strike independent podcast award winners. You know, what can you do? mate something happened to me the other day there was my favorite beach i went to go and have a panini and i will say there is a small amount of joy that i get when i order a panini and go to the beach that doesn't stem from the panini itself or the beach itself it's because i know that if you were there you would be all frustrated and wound up tight like a pack of muffins over the fact that i was eating non-filippino food in the philippines you're.
Adam:
[7:04] Totally right i would i'll be I'd be livid. I'd be furious. I'd be thinking, Alun, every single opportunity when you travel, every time you eat, let's say, every time you eat, is an opportunity to eat something delicious from the local cuisine. And you've gone for a panini. The reason why I think of things like this is because... What are the chances of that panini being any good? I mean, what are the chances of a great panini coming from a tiny island in the Philippines?
Alun:
[7:31] It's a pretty good panini, mate. I chose the one that's called the Italian panini. It's quite a nice little...
Adam:
[7:38] Shock.
Alun:
[7:38] Yeah, it's quite a nice little panini. And, you know, when you're living in a place, mate, I don't know if you know this, but sometimes when you're spending a long time immersing in the culture, sometimes you fancy some home comforts. Comforts so on this occasion I wanted to get in touch with my Italian side and get a panini and I took that little bastard down to the beach and I was really looking forward to eating it and just relaxing maybe listening to an audiobook and munching down this Italian bread yeah.
Adam:
[8:06] It was sideways crab beach was it was that the same beach it was the philosopher's sideways crab beach the famous.
Alun:
[8:12] Yeah yeah the hidden gem of Shargao sideways crab beach sometimes you'll see me there in a variety of international cuisines but on this occasion the beach was entirely empty and I would have given more breadth to the situation there was one couple on the beach who were clearly enjoying themselves when I arrived oh yeah oh yeah baby and I thought yeah I'll tell you all about it but what happened was the beach itself is very long but the shaded area of the beach is a little bit more compressed down so i had to sit closer than i would if the beach had more shade but still respectfully distant from them okay.
Adam:
[8:56] Are you well aware of that you were sort of encroaching on their personal space almost were you.
Alun:
[9:00] I was aware of it in the way that a socially awkward perhaps autistic man might be of sitting next to some other people on a beach.
Adam:
[9:10] Walking up to them backwards with your towel just dragging it slowly along the sand.
Alun:
[9:14] So I sat maybe 10 meters away from them and I'm kind of set up shop, put Pashanka, my travel towel down there and I'm eating the panini and they're looking at me. A little bit more than you would expect someone to look at you if you were just living your life and both enjoying the beach on equal footing. They were looking at me quite a bit. I was like, a bit annoying. What's the problem here? Side eyeing them, all this sort of stuff. It was only after about five, maybe to 10 minutes that I realized the reason they were looking at me was because I was still wearing, bolted to my head like a huge globe, my motorcycle helmet. Now that's a more embarrassing thing than you might realize when it's like you know i'm wearing a vest and shorts and i'm laying down on a beach towel wearing a motorcycle helmet as if i was afraid of my skull coming apart or something yeah safety first certainly jesus.
Adam:
[10:17] Are you sure that's the reason why they were looking at you it wasn't because you were you weren't eating filipino food.
Alun:
[10:22] I was also naked, so it could have been that.
Adam:
[10:27] Nice helmet. What? That's hilarious, mate. I can't believe it.
Alun:
[10:32] There you go.
Adam:
[10:32] How far away was your bike from where you were?
Alun:
[10:35] I'd walked from home.
Adam:
[10:38] Yeah, the strangest thing was, I wouldn't even ride my bike that day. That is hilarious.
Alun:
[10:42] No, the bike was just down the road.
Adam:
[10:44] When you noticed, did it all sort of fall into place? You thought, oh, what an idiot. Did you engage with them? Did you give them a little nod and go, oh, yeah, sorry. yeah so this is just my panini eating helmet.
Alun:
[10:55] No i tried to take the helmet off without them noticing and i was hoping they just i was hoping the whole situation would just go away i sort of slowly unbuckled the strap and took it off surreptitiously put it to one side it was a bit like that.
Adam:
[11:09] Dear oh dear what do you think the reason was that for are you just completely um sidetracked by all the crabs or um it's really unlike you that.
Alun:
[11:17] I'm stressed out mate i'm stressed out because i'm leaving the philippines i'm like putting everything together it was just one of those brain dead mishaps and i need someone to help me and i'm hoping that person will be you by way of a distraction what have you prepared for us well.
Adam:
[11:31] I think it's about time mate we get over into the next section of the show we've got hostile common room we've been contacted by one of you lovely listeners and it's very very interesting and and helpful question indeed let's go there now it's the hostile common room.
The Hostel Common Room
Alun:
[11:52] And here we are in the Hostel Common Room, an item where Adam and the listening audience all pitch together to try to distract me and calm me down from my mishap adventures by asking questions. You can ask us all sorts of things like, what are the best shoes for a hiking holiday? Or what's the best helmet for beachwear? There's all kinds of questions. And to ask them, you simply go to tropologypodcast.com forward slash Hostel Common Room and send us a little email there.
Adam:
[12:22] That's it. You can even ask us, how many countries have you been to, mate? I was thinking, actually, Alun, how many countries do you think you need to have been to before you get a tattoo of the map of the world?
Alun:
[12:34] Oh, it's interesting. That's like when you see people wearing a band t-shirt and you're like, name three songs, isn't it? Yeah, it's someone gets a map of the world. How many countries have you been to? I reckon.
Adam:
[12:45] You see a lot of young kids actually wearing Joy Division t-shirts and you think, I wonder if they, I hope they, I mean, maybe they do, but maybe they just like the design of the t-shirt. And maybe that's also fine. And maybe people like the design of a map of the world, I don't know. But how many countries do you think is sort of the threshold before you go, do you know what? I'm going to get a tattoo now.
Alun:
[13:07] I don't think it's a quantitative measure. I think what it is, is travel has to be a sizable part of your life in order to do that. Maybe you've been just to a few countries, but it was like a trip that changed your life and you've got the world map to represent the idea of travel. Although I would like to support the idea of localized maps more. Let's say you've gone and had a transformative experience in Vietnam. Just get the amorphous shape of vietnam tattooed on your hip or maybe you've been to the wonderful nation.
Adam:
[13:38] Of papua new guinea just get one island that's fair enough i mean i don't really know what to do with that answer i suppose if you do have amazing experiences anywhere you can absolutely get a tattoo about it i mean we were in 2025 Alun yeah.
Alun:
[13:50] Get it tattooed you.
Adam:
[13:51] Proved if you've.
Alun:
[13:51] Had an amazing experience and you decided not to get it tattooed really in this day and age what are you trying to prove.
Adam:
[13:57] Come on there doesn't need to be a reason for getting a tattoo nowadays you just do whatever get drunk and do it um one of my mates by the way also called adam i bet if he listens to this show he won't believe he's getting a shout out on this podcast but i think he's still got a tattoo of a gingerbread man somewhere on his body and it's just because he's ginger so there you go anyway i mean you.
Alun:
[14:22] Can't argue with.
Adam:
[14:23] That you can't argue with a logic it's solid logic sound sound as a pound uh anyway we've got a submission here into the hostel common room and the email goes as follows um it's from adele hi adele thanks for writing in the adele would i wear an adele t-shirt, If I had to name three of her songs, I wouldn't meet the criteria to get one.
Alun:
[14:47] I don't think they sell very well.
Adam:
[14:50] No. Her albums do. She's amazing. Here we go. We'll get to the email finally. Love your podcasts, by the way. And just a question or some advice. Myself and my wife are going travelling for a couple of years. Years? Get in. Initially, South East and Central Asia, and then hopefully South America if the funds allow. Now, we are both in our late 50s. Our budget is 150 US dollars per day. Very handsome.
Alun:
[15:17] It is the Adele.
Adam:
[15:19] So we'll use a mix of accommodation, homestays, Airbnbs, Booking.com and some hostels. However, the best travel advice is often from fellow travellers with a similar viewpoint. And I'm slightly concerned that if we don't stay in hostels, we won't meet that many travellers. Also, I assume the hostel demographic is typically much younger. Do you have any suggestions of how best to meet similar travellers? Cheers, Adele. Thanks ever so much for writing in, mate. Alun, what have you got to say about that?
Alun:
[15:45] I would say that, firstly, don't worry at all about the budget, because as far as us travellers go, Adele, you are what can only be described as wealthy.
Adam:
[15:57] Yeah, maybe don't go out for three meals if you end up in Monaco, but apart from that, you should be fine.
Alun:
[16:02] Yeah, put it this way. In my first month in Vietnam... I spent £100.
Adam:
[16:07] Wow. Well, there you go. You've asked the right man, Adele. So what do we think about like minded travellers getting advice, mixing with the right people?
Alun:
[16:14] Well, that was primarily the reason I spent such a little amount in Vietnam was because I was doing some volunteering work. Now, hear me out. I don't know what kind of a trip Adele wants. But what I do know is we're living in a world now where travel has become more and more popular, more and more people are doing it. And I think that's a great thing, but emphasis now more than ever is required to make sure people do the right kind of travel. And for me, the right kind of travel is travel that's transformative, makes a difference, puts your best foot forward in terms of the way a place experiences you. Is you know travel's not just about uh going and seeing as much of the things that everyone else sees as you can travel's about going and being an ambassador of yourself and your culture and going to a location and having transformative experiences so why not, do some volunteering somewhere.
Adam:
[17:07] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that would be a very enriching experience and also extend the old budget. And you definitely will meet, quote unquote, the right people doing it that way. I think that'd be a great use of your time. I do worry though, sometimes you don't find out this or develop this mindset and approach until, you know, well into your travels. Do you think that's sort of fair to say?
Alun:
[17:26] Yeah, maybe. But I mean, I went and did some volunteering first. That was my entry point into travel. I went to that town in rural Yangshore and there was like loads of people of varying ages as well the other volunteers one of them was in his 50s and he like really took me under his wing and taught me he'd been backpacking a while and then the same in Vietnam I did loads of different stuff it doesn't have to be like labor intensive so it feels like work it can just be like doing meeting in a cafe with some people and doing an English language exchange in exchange they'll take you all around the city and show you the best spots there's platforms for that kind of thing where you know you can go and have a coffee with a vietnamese person and chat and they get the benefit of having conversation and you get the benefit of their expertise yeah.
Adam:
[18:12] Yeah no i totally agree i think that's great advice i would also like to throw into the ring the walking tour i think you can meet some great people that way not only other people in your situation i.e people are quite new to a location just discovering the local area orientating themselves. But also, you meet a guide who usually lives in the location, knows the place at the back of their hand, and is willing to share, uh what they know so i've even met up with walking tour guides in the evening of the same day gone out for drinks and that sort of stuff and i guess that brings me on to my next piece of advice which is in a bar i i've met loads of people over the years in big cities especially in bars and you just strike up a rapport with them you know obviously the more drinks you have the easier it gets uh and then before you know it the following day or maybe at the weekend or whatever you're you're out and about you've joined a group and you're discovering the place um with with other people who are like minded and i would say even though i know you've said i think you said you're in your 50s i i'm not sure how much when you've been on the road for a long time i'm not sure how much age matters.
Alun:
[19:16] Yeah i don't think it might the only way in which it's significant i think is in how initially younger travelers might regard you but that's more a factor of them than it is of you like that's just because they've basically grown up gone to university and then they're in hostels where there's a bunch of other young people so there's an initial like realization and learning process as they travel of like oh humans are just humans i've just hang out with people my own age my whole life but that's not how it's going to continue um walking tours are great advice that was all great advice the only final note i would add to that is there are certain instances whilst you're traveling where you are gonna have to do an activity that's in some way organized and there's like a premium to do that privately let's say you're in Vietnam and you want to go to Halong Bay I'm sure you could spend an inordinate amount of money on like a private tour but ultimately just go with a group like do a join a tour pay less go to Halong Bay and be proactive in meeting the people there talking I think that's a great way to meet people yeah.
Adam:
[20:19] I do think as well reading that email and knowing that there's already this idea of being on the road for a couple of years is just take the time, take your time, there's no rush. It's all to do. And the slower you go, the better off you'll be for it, I'm sure. I mean, never book a way out of a place before you've got there, perhaps. And you might end up staying in some places for two days, and maybe you thought you might be there for a week, but you might end up staying in some places for
Listener Questions and Travel Tips
Adam:
[20:46] a month, and you hadn't necessarily planned on it at all.
Alun:
[20:48] That's really good stuff i think that the tendency if you're with a partner sometimes that can become quite insulated and if you're not careful you can just hang out with each other and that can extend onwards and become like a pattern that you fall into so definitely be proactive in meeting people i've personally found a great way if you want to start a conversation with someone just say oh my god have you heard of this really cool podcast and then get it up on your phone and make sure that they subscribe to the podcast as well so for example you could choose topology and say like oh i'm listening to this make sure make sure that they also click subscribe.
Adam:
[21:24] Thanks ever so much for writing in adele of course um i will reply to the email in person as well and i look forward to having a bit of a chit chat with you about how your plans develop because they sound very bloody exciting excellent news.
Alun:
[21:36] Much love adele and partner uh do keep on conversing with us because we'd love to know how all that goes now though we're going to move on to a different section of the show featuring another piece of correspondence from another listener of the show but this time in an audio format i am of course speaking of tales of a trip three minutes of someone's greatest travel story sent to us anthropology podcast.com forward slash tales of a trip let's hear what this listener has to say.
Tales of a Trip:
[22:04] Hi, my name is Siraj. I met both these gentlemen in Mumbai, maybe about a year ago. I think I want to reflect on a few different things that I've done throughout the course of my travels. I think maybe one of the longest journeys was a three and a half year voyage, actually buying a car in Western Canada, in Vancouver. And over the course of the next three and a half years driving to the southern tip of Argentina. I mean, that journey had a lot of things encased within it, but I think I'd like to touch on maybe some of the experiences that really held my heart a little bit more. I worked with jaguars and pumas, rehabilitating them and caring for them in the Bolivian jungle. This was something that really grounded me for some time, working with in an orphanage in Peru also feeling happy, very blessed to have had that experience um it definitely imparted uh um oh it definitely picked a direction for me the few years following that where i went into teaching, um working on a coffee farm doing all these things and giving back to the community in a way to slow my journey down but also allow me to connect with the land and the place i was in So that was really beautiful.
Tales of a Trip:
[23:30] And after this experience, being able to work on a boat that went to Antarctica to cap everything off, I think, was absolutely magical.
Tales of a Trip:
[23:41] Another really beautiful experience, which was completely spontaneous and unplanned, was after I moved to Europe, Um, I had a very spontaneous, I made a very spontaneous decision to travel to Spain, to travel to Spain and then into France to start this, the Camino de Santiago. Um, I walked for about a thousand kilometers over 31 days or so. And I don't think I realized that that juncture in my life, how much I needed an experience like that. It provided me with more mental clarity than I've ever had before. And I've generally always had a love for hiking, but there were days when I was laughing and the next minute I was crying, the next minute I was socializing, the next minute I was in solitude for hours. And it was such a range of emotions and experiences all encompassed within one 30-day trip that I think when the day came that we needed to stop, I didn't know what to do with myself. And all I wanted to do was keep walking. And obviously life gets in the way and we all have different things that we needed to do. But, yeah, this was one of the experiences I treasured the most. So thank you, guys, and good luck for your future projects.
Alun:
[25:02] Thank you so much for sending that in. A person who, of course, we met when we were living in Mumbai. You don't have to know us in order to send in the tales of a trip, but the way the cookie's crumbling is that a lot of people we've met on our travels are sending stuff in, and we're incredibly appreciative of that. The person who sent that message in, Siraj, he struck me, at the time, and again, listening to that, as such a beautiful, personable individual who, you know, at the time I'd been traveling in India for a while and you came and joined me, you're a bit fresher and going out. I was a bit kind of tired and bewildered and there weren't so many people I connected with in that hostel in Mumbai, but Siraj was certainly one of them. So thank you so much for sending in that message.
Adam:
[25:47] I mean, I don't even know where to start. Suraj mentions he didn't want to stop walking at the end of the Camino. And I'm not sure I wanted his voice note to end either. I mean, it was, you know, what? He's the man, isn't he? He's done it all. Twice, it sounds like.
Alun:
[26:03] Yeah, good storyteller. He's one of those people that I met traveling and he's continued to hold some area of my mind. I think of him more often as a character that was of some importance than other people that you might just meet fleetingly.
Adam:
[26:18] Oh, I totally agree.
Alun:
[26:20] I've got one story about him that I would love to talk about in the Patreon section after the show as well, because I think it sums up who he was as a character. I didn't know that he worked rehabilitating big cats in the Bolivian Amazon, a la myself. So that's really cool to know. I wonder if he'd already done that, presumably, by the time I'd met him.
Adam:
[26:40] But no must have must have but i mean i didn't realize that you know because what happens when you travel and you live in hostels and stuff and you meet other people who are well traveled usually this sort of stuff comes up in conversation yeah but he left all that he left all that out oh he's too busy running businesses you know fantastic um entrepreneur businessman he's got a clothing brand now called sunday garments which is fantastic check that out i'll put the link in the description um really really exceptional stuff and he's got his heart in the right place but he's you're right he's charismatic and he sort of people gravitate towards him don't they he's like the the guy at the table that every single person in the hostel seems to know and um the experiences themselves they are right at the top like once in a lifetime kind of stuff and the i do i do wish with.
Adam:
[27:35] Tried to do what he's done in terms of some of the stuff that we've done a point to point maybe you go somewhere maybe you buy a vehicle maybe you get on a bicycle maybe you don't have an end date but I wish that there was a culture within society I wish it was normalized I wish people were encouraged and pushed to just go in one direction and just see what happens and the likelihood is you will probably be fine the likelihood is you will come out the other end of it with some wild stories having lived experiences beyond your wildest dreams telling stories to people years down the line and inspiring them to do the same it's just i wish more people did it and i wish more people knew they could do it and i wish more people believed they could do it.
Alun:
[28:20] Yeah i'm so glad you said that and it echoes something that i was just thinking when i was listening to that uh message from suraj is we ask people to send in their greatest travel stories And so often we get an amazing tale that, you know, has drama or romance or love and it's beautiful.
Tales of a Trip
Alun:
[28:37] And it's why travel is so amazing is you can go and have an incredible experience. But when you listen to something like that, you realize that if you spend your life in, addressing the project of traveling as a mechanism to better yourself better the world around you do lots of volunteering things challenge yourself do these long walks do these business ideas all that stuff all within the context of a life spent traveling no longer is it about like oh but the best time was when I walked the Camino or the best time was when I rehabilitated that puma it becomes the best time was travel it gave me a sense of who i am in all these different ways and the greatest travel story is the life that i'm currently living and i think that was the overarching message of that tale of a trip and thank you very much for sending it in and i would love to hear other listeners who have spent a long time on the road are thinking about spending a time on the road have great ideas of what they want to do just send in a three minute voice note so we can play it on the show because they're all so much of value and we want to hear from each and every one of you as we expand this beautiful travel community.
Adam:
[29:49] Yeah, it's been an amazing episode, mate. I've really enjoyed talking to you. I've loved hearing from the people listening at home. I think now it's time we go off into the Patreon section, The Lost and Found. I'll see you there.
Alun:
[29:58] Yeah, if you've enjoyed the show, if you think that we taught you something or you found it funny or beautiful or you just like the camaraderie between me and Adam, There's all sorts more kinds of that over on patreon.com forward slash tropology podcast for a very nominal fee. You not only are supporting the show and me and Adam as we continue to do this and live this life, but you're also entering into this community of travelers who will share ideas and talk to one another. It's a beautiful place over there. For just a couple of dollars, you get access to this section after the show where me and Adam just, we just talk. We just talk and it's like intimate and relaxed. and cool so we hope to see you there over in the lost and found section for now though we'll see you all next week make.
Adam:
[30:44] Sure you bring your helmet we'll see you there bye bye.