Which Country Has the Strongest Passport? #1 Will Shock You!
Have your passports ready! This week's travel quiz tests Alun's knowledge of all things passports. Which countries have the strongest passports and which countries have the weakest passports? And when was the first ever passport issued? We go through some of the 2025 passport rankings and share some weird passport facts you didn't know!
If there's one thing Alun's hates about travel, it's ubiquitous, unimaginative travel quotes. Alun reels off his least favourite travel quotes but has snuck in one he's written himself. Will Adam be able to guess which quote Alun wrote?
In Tales of a Trip, we hear from a listener who visited Mansheya Nasir aka 'Garbage City', on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Wonderfully descriptive and intriguing, his story touches on spirituality, religion and energy; an experience he describes as "magical".
Check out Sam Urrea's instagram content: @surreal_traveler
Send your crazy travel stories to: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
00:58 - Brown outs
02:40 - Alun's crab epiphany
03:32 - Adam's least favourite thing about travel
06:32 - Alun's travel quote quiz
14:54 - Tripping Point: Passport Power
28:50 - Tales of a Trip: Sam Urrea aka Surreal Traveler
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TRANSCRIPT
Alun:
[0:02] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology. I'm Alun and I'm here with the ever-quotable Adam.
Adam:
[0:10] Thanks ever so much. Thanks everyone for tuning in every single week. We'd love to have you here. We really appreciate the support. Hell of a show this week as per mate. We've got a little catch up session in the beginning and then we've got everyone's favourite travel quiz show. It's
Tripping Point in the middle and then at the end it's Tales of a Trip where we hear from another backpacker.
Alun:
[0:27] Oh, no. So it's an anxiety-laden record for me, tripping point, where I have to pit myself against you in a battle of general knowledge. I say pit myself against you. It's really you're just sort of a question master, and I have to answer questions and embarrass myself if I don't know the answers.
Adam:
[0:42] Well, I just kind of use it as a learning experience for me. I'm learning so much about general travel and travel trivia. And I think if there's any man that can get five out of five this week, it's probably you.
Alun:
[0:53] I blooming well hope so, mate, because it's been quite a tumultuous week for me. There's been brownouts, there's been lockouts.
Adam:
[1:00] Excuse me?
Alun:
[1:01] Brownouts and lockouts. Which one of those didn't make sense to you?
Adam:
[1:04] Well, a lockout, I think, is fairly self-explanatory, but a brownout? I'd hate to be the only person hearing that who doesn't know what it is.
Alun:
[1:12] Well, thank God they didn't have it at the same time. That's all I'm going to say.
Adam:
[1:18] You're going to have to explain what a brownout is, because I might have to write it in the description. and I'd rather know what it is before I put pen to paper.
Alun:
[1:24] I think one of the definitions of a brownout is a power out that's planned and scheduled.
Adam:
[1:31] Okay. Could they... Really? Could they not have chosen a phrase that was less misleading?
Alun:
[1:37] I think that's what it is. Well, blackout, right? So it's like blackout, that is... The power's gone out. It's completely black.
Adam:
[1:44] Yeah.
Alun:
[1:45] In the sense that there's nothing lighting it up.
Adam:
[1:48] Yeah, yeah.
Alun:
[1:48] The absence of light.
Adam:
[1:49] Again, fairly self-explanatory.
Alun:
[1:51] Brown out. is like oh it was almost really dark but we did give you some warning light a candle so.
Adam:
[1:59] It's called a brownout uh okay i don't know if i'm going to be the only one listening to that who finds it funny perhaps i will be um okay so did that affect you in any way.
Alun:
[2:07] Yeah mate it affected me in the sense that i couldn't do anything because my shack becomes intolerably hot when the power is off because i can't use aircon so you just have to take yourself out for a whole day and be amongst nature which I do like doing so a brownout mate it's a little bit of a double-edged sword and it got me you know I sat on the beach basically I was looking at the waves I was there thinking god what I wouldn't do for a little mega jewel of power right about now and I started thinking about travel and what had led me up to that point I got a bit spiritual with it you know I mean I saw a crab scuttling next to me I thought what are you doing you should go front ways not side to side like that. I was thinking about travel ad.
Adam:
[2:51] Right. And the story was inspired by the crab or, you know, what was going on?
Alun:
[2:56] I just disagree fundamentally with the crab's method of locomotion. I think they'd be more effective if they went forwards.
Adam:
[3:03] Is there a reason why, evolutionarily, that they don't go forwards?
Alun:
[3:06] I think it was just a stylistic choice by whatever deity you choose to believe in.
Adam:
[3:13] A stylistic choice. All the crabs.
Alun:
[3:18] General consensus yeah i think with any creature you've got a range of options to choose from and with that one it was decided why don't you go from side to side but anyway i was having this spiritual epiphany and i thought i wonder what your perspective is on this what is your least favorite thing about travel oh.
Adam:
[3:35] God talk about putting me on the spot i thought you're going to say my least favorite country then um my least favorite thing about travel, I don't want to be the guy that says something like, oh, it costs too much money or, you know, the fact I can't do it forever. I'm going to say something quite honest and I am going to try and give you an answer quickly. So I am saying this right off the cuff.
Alun:
[3:59] Yeah.
Adam:
[3:59] It's probably other travellers travelling in, you know, the kind of clog up what I'm doing. So I realize that's incredibly selfish and egotistical and probably quite sort of misguided in a way because I'm obviously there as well. So it sort of contradicts what I'm doing. If they're not there, then I wouldn't be there either, perhaps. But a lot of the time, it's that, really.
Alun:
[4:25] Just other people.
Adam:
[4:26] I just wish there were less people doing what I'm doing where I'm doing it.
Alun:
[4:31] Well, my answer echoes yours. i have a definitive answer to this and i think it echoes yours in
some sense because mine is exclusively done by other people okay but i i've now done it as well and uh i'm gonna basically show you the things done by other people and one of them's done by me and you've got to guess which one's mine my least favorite thing about travel is of course inspirational travel quotes oh.
Adam:
[4:59] Wow okay your least favorite oh this is exciting.
Alun:
[5:02] Yeah my hatred of inspirational travel quotes started uh in a hostel in galat where i looked up at the wall and there was written out in, biro right the phrase travel is the only thing that you can do, That you spend money on that makes you richer.
Adam:
[5:25] Yeah, that's a famous one.
Alun:
[5:27] And I was like, oh, well, that person hadn't heard of cryptocurrency, had they?
Adam:
[5:31] The problem is once you start ripping these things apart and taking them seriously, they don't make loads of sense.
Alun:
[5:36] It's interesting because there's lots of things that you can spend money on that make you richer. That's what like...
Adam:
[5:42] An investment is.
Alun:
[5:43] Yeah.
Adam:
[5:43] Appreciating asset.
Alun:
[5:44] Yeah. so that person was just going around the world going oh my god everything costs money but i'm getting pretty rich not in a financial way but i'm growing and there is that's the thing about these travel quotes is there's validity in all of them some of them i think absolutely make complete sense but i just hate the fact that you've chosen to to express the idea in a very quotable
sort of like oh why not take your shoes off kind of a way yeah.
Adam:
[6:12] Yeah we're talking about taking shoes off there's other ones that are like uh you know a big adventure or a gap year starts with the first step and it's like oh fuck off.
Alun:
[6:20] Well that's actually Lao Tzu that you know Lao Tzu one of the best philosophers of all time said every journey starts with a single step he's not wrong he's not wrong you.
Adam:
[6:29] Can't you can't argue it.
Alun:
[6:30] It's one of my favorites anyway so I've got some travel quotes for you go on you can um I'm just going to read them out I'll tell you who they're by but one of them is by me okay so chime in when you think oh that's a little bit suspicious i'll start reading them if.
Adam:
[6:45] I hear anything about a crab walking sideways i'll know which one it is.
Alun:
[6:48] Yeah okay here we go, The world is a book, and those who don't travel read only one page.
Adam:
[6:57] Okay, I like it. It's, again, a very famous one. And it's true.
Alun:
[7:00] Yeah, maybe you should rate them.
Adam:
[7:01] Out of five?
Alun:
[7:03] Yeah, give them a five-star rating.
Adam:
[7:05] Okay, because I don't really know where I am at the moment and what a five would sound like. Let's go with three, a nice middle of the road.
Alun:
[7:12] Okay, you quite like it.
Adam:
[7:13] Well, I think it's an average quote. I think it's just a little bit above halfway.
Alun:
[7:19] Okay, do you think that was from me?
Adam:
[7:20] No okay.
Alun:
[7:21] Well you're right it was by saint augustine here's one for you not all those who wonder are lost.
Adam:
[7:32] Again it's a great quote i like it slightly more than the previous one i like the short sort of punchy ones that allow you to then take that and think about it in your own time uh so i'm going to give that a four wow well yeah i think i think that's good uh and you also did I'm shocked.
Alun:
[7:50] It's one of my least favourite travel quotes.
Adam:
[7:51] Well, it depends what you want a travel quote to be.
Alun:
[7:53] I want it to get me fucking excited now, a travel quote to get me naked.
Adam:
[7:59] To get you naked. If I ever say anything, one day. So, okay, well, a four. Maybe I'm easy to please. Maybe that's what it is.
Alun:
[8:10] Yeah.
Adam:
[8:10] I also know that wasn't you.
Alun:
[8:12] Yeah, because it's one of the most famous, probably the most ubiquitous travel quote. And I think it's probably, if I was going to see a wall in a hostel with travel quotes peppered on it, I'd be very surprised if whoever was commissioned to do that didn't start there, to be honest. It's one of
the most basic ones. It's actually by Tolkien I was disappointed to learn.
Adam:
[8:33] Yeah, well, I would argue that maybe most people who wander aren't lost, actually.
Alun:
[8:39] Yeah.
Adam:
[8:40] I would say that's probably more accurate.
Alun:
[8:42] Really quite dangerous, isn't it, to be wandering about all lost? Next one.
Adam:
[8:48] We've all got a purpose. Go on.
Alun:
[8:50] Travel is to life as music is to sound.
Adam:
[8:54] Wow. Thought-provoking, immediately confusing. There's a deeper meaning, and I'm backpedaling and panicking because I'm not quite understanding it. I would say, out of the previous ones that you've mentioned, plus this one, this is most likely to have been written by you.
Alun:
[9:12] Okay.
Adam:
[9:14] Um... Travel is to, tell me again, travel is to?
Alun:
[9:18] Travel is to life as music is to sound.
Adam:
[9:23] Wow. Okay. I'm not even sure I can comprehend what that means.
Alun:
[9:31] Do you like it?
Adam:
[9:32] It's quite, it's abstract.
Alun:
[9:33] Okay.
Adam:
[9:34] I do like it because it's one of those quotes that sounds really profound.
Alun:
[9:38] Yeah.
Adam:
[9:38] But most people, most people who say it wouldn't know what it really means. And I'm still struggling live on air to try and get to grips with what it means.
Alun:
[9:47] To me, that would mean like travel is to life as music is to sound. So what is music to sound? It's creating beauty.
Adam:
[9:55] Patterns.
Alun:
[9:56] Well, patterns, yeah. But I think like beautiful structure that like expands.
Adam:
[10:03] Melodic. Okay.
Alun:
[10:03] I think that's what I would understand from that.
Adam:
[10:06] Okay. Cool.
Alun:
[10:08] But I'm not going to tell you who it's by because you're saying you think that could be me.
Adam:
[10:11] Yes. Yeah, I think that would be what my money was on, what my cryptocurrency was on at the moment.
Alun:
[10:19] Okay. Here's another one. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
Adam:
[10:29] I think that that's a one, a one out of five quote.
Alun:
[10:33] Okay.
Adam:
[10:34] Even though I agree with that, even though I think that's quite a good, because you've got to take it with a pinch of salt, right? You can't live and die by these things. No one's asking you to do that.
Alun:
[10:44] Yeah.
Adam:
[10:45] But I do think that that's quite shit.
Alun:
[10:49] Okay. One out of five. Do you think that one's by me or do you think that's a travel quote?
Adam:
[10:56] If it is by you, it's ironic. I don't think. I think you're taking the piss out of how shit some travel quotes are and how popular they become.
Alun:
[11:05] Okay. so I'm not going to tell you who that's by either because you're saying it could be or you rule it out.
Adam:
[11:13] I'll rule it out, I don't think that was you.
Alun:
[11:15] You rule it out that was mate, the Dalai Lama.
Adam:
[11:21] What, the Karan Dalai Lama?
Alun:
[11:22] Yeah.
Adam:
[11:23] I think that's a shit, very basic...
Alun:
[11:25] That is mental.
Adam:
[11:26] I don't think I would ever say that to anyone.
Alun:
[11:29] Maybe, like, maybe it's lost in translation to some point. Maybe it was, you know, maybe his Tibetan translator said, oh, you know, he's basically... The gist of what he said was go someplace once a year. But once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
Adam:
[11:44] I think that's okay. I think that's good advice. So I think you would get value out of it if you employ his words, his tactics. But of all the travel quotes, I mean, I think that's...
Alun:
[11:56] All right. Last one. You might think you know this one. It goes, the journey, not the arrival, matters.
Adam:
[12:07] Okay. The journey, yeah.
Alun:
[12:09] Now, we've all heard it's not the journey, it's the destination.
Adam:
[12:12] No, no, it's not the destination, it's the journey.
Alun:
[12:15] That's the one.
Adam:
[12:16] That's the one. You're all at that. We've all at that.
Alun:
[12:19] But this is the journey, not the arrival, matters.
Adam:
[12:24] Okay. Again, because it's quite short, sharp, and punchy, and gets you thinking after reading that, I do quite like that. I'd say that's probably... Is it... Because I haven't heard it as often as the other one, the more popular, ubiquitous one. Maybe I'll go for a three. Can I do 0.5s? A 3.5, a 4,
maybe?
Alun:
[12:46] Yeah, oh, God.
Adam:
[12:48] It's your show um yeah i'll say that's hovering around the 3.54 mark why not because i feel like it's inspired by the other quote and they've just gone how can i make this my own so that i don't have to worry about copyright all.
Alun:
[13:02] The other quotes inspired by it.
Adam:
[13:03] Potentially and.
Alun:
[13:04] It depends do you think this is an established quote or do you think yours truly give that a little right.
Adam:
[13:09] It's marketing ingenious. I don't think that's you either. But maybe I'm fixating on the music one because you like music.
Alun:
[13:19] Because I sometimes play music. That would be a trap that I would lay, wouldn't it?
Adam:
[13:23] Yeah. Yeah, it would. I mean, there's me thinking you wouldn't lay a trap because I never do for you when we do tripping points.
Alun:
[13:29] If anything, you help me inordinately.
Adam:
[13:31] LAUGHTER, There you go, listeners. You can see which way round. Very telling of this dynamic.
Alun:
[13:38] Okay, which one are you going for?
Adam:
[13:39] That you wrote.
Alun:
[13:40] Yeah.
Adam:
[13:40] I'm going to have to go for the music one. It's probably wrong.
Alun:
[13:43] You're right, mate. I wrote the music one.
Adam:
[13:45] Really?
Alun:
[13:45] Travel is to life as music is to sound. I don't really know what it means either, but I thought it sounded like a quote. So that was my one. And then the other one was by T.S. Eliot, and I actually think it's the precursor to it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. I think that he wrote that and said the journey, not the arrival, is what matters.
Adam:
[14:02] Nice. I like that a lot.
Alun:
[14:04] Dalai Lama there really failing miserably to say something inspiring amidst a bunch of pretty inspiring quotes.
Adam:
[14:11] I feel like the Dalai Lama, he's obviously like part of his role and responsibility is to say profound things, insightful things. And someone's come in and gone, Mr. Lama, you've not said anything in weeks. We really need to put something out there. And he's gone, I don't know, just fucking whatever, just say.
Alun:
[14:28] Just say, well, how often can people afford to go away? Once a year? Okay, yeah, do that.
Adam:
[14:33] Yeah just say something about yeah go away somewhere you haven't been or some shit i don't know you come you finish it off something like that thanks mister,
Tripping Point Begins
Adam:
[14:42] yeah yeah just put my name under it yeah people will buy it and be fine oh that was cool mate well.
Alun:
[14:48] There you go mate congratulations you've done a great job there now let's go to the point where i'm tested by you let's go to tripping point.
Adam:
[15:06] Okay, everyone, here we are. We're back for another tripping point. It's the travel quiz where Alun tries to get five out of five. Alun, what are the stakes this week, mate?
Alun:
[15:16] Why are you asking me that? You're the games master. I have no idea. I just try and turn up and get the questions right.
Adam:
[15:23] We've got no stakes. We've got no stakes. What are we going to do? I don't know if we end up like plugging something that you're going to be doing next year, but who the hell is going to remember that?
Alun:
[15:32] Hold on so you just asked me what are the stakes is the reason behind that because you've not come up with any stakes because i have to say imagine if someone went on a game show like who wants to be a millionaire and the host went what do you want to win i've.
Adam:
[15:47] Come up with five fantastic questions and a bonus question i can't come up with the stakes.
Alun:
[15:52] Choose anything you like if you win i'll give you a million dollars um.
Adam:
[16:00] Okay well what can we do.
Alun:
[16:02] I'd like your credit card if i'm completely honest my.
Adam:
[16:05] Credit card okay.
Alun:
[16:06] Yeah you've been working for quite a while full time now i live on a beach so i'd quite like access to your card.
Adam:
[16:13] Access to my card well i do trust you i trust you with my life so access to my credit card if you get some of the questions are quite difficult so let's give you a helping hand.
Alun:
[16:25] This is what I want I think if I get two right I get I get the card number if I get four right I get the expiration date and if I get five right I get the three numbers on the back as well.
Adam:
[16:39] Okay which obviously we won't be talking about maybe we'll yeah i'll give all those details in the patreon section perfect love it so you can potentially pay a couple of dollars a month to then have access to my credit card and just go shopping and you know to the tune of ten dollars okay.
Alun:
[16:55] I'm ready so question one playing for the numbers on the card.
Adam:
[16:59] Yeah and it is it is a passport edition i can't believe it's taken us this long 150 odd episodes in to have a passport edition but here we are number one according to passportindex.org which country has the strongest passport ranked by its total mobility score is it a singapore is it b japan is it c the united arab emirates or is it d switzerland singapore oh you don't want to talk about it though a little back and forth you know what total mobility score is.
Alun:
[17:31] No yeah i do and i'm confident it's singapore.
Adam:
[17:33] Okay. The answer, mate, is actually the United Arab Emirates. Can you believe it?
Alun:
[17:39] Well, it was Singapore last year.
Adam:
[17:41] It was, you're right. But the UAE.
Alun:
[17:44] Oh, come on.
Adam:
[17:45] Yeah, it was released a little while ago this year. The 2025 ranking system has got the UAE in top spot with a score of 179, 133 countries visa-free and 19 countries requiring visas. So there you go. What have you got to say about that?
Alun:
[18:01] Oh, you raise a complaint. yeah we have actually done something similar to this before anthropology very early on do you think i remember because i was in scotland at the time and you asked that question and the answer was singapore ah.
Adam:
[18:17] So your times are changing that's when you know you've been doing a podcast for a long time when the same question comes up with a different answer.
Alun:
[18:22] Yeah and you started off by saying we've never done anything like this before, meaning we've never had this question with the same answer twice.
Adam:
[18:33] There you go it's so so different well now there's a little bit more it's a bit more formulaic it's a bit more structured you know there are themes and stuff that we're working within right so okay.
Alun:
[18:43] So i've already lost my chance at the code but i can probably get the expiration date and then guess.
Adam:
[18:47] There's a bonus question as well so don't worry about it too much uh number two which country has the weakest passport ranked by its total mobility score i mean obviously that was going to be the next question afghanistan Wow. It was multiple choice and you nailed it. Okay, well, the answer is Afghanistan. The multiple choice would have been Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria or Pakistan. Now, Afghanistan has only got a score of 38, 160 countries requiring visas and only six countries are visa-free.
Alun:
[19:19] I'm going to shoot myself in the foot, but I am an aficionado of this passport list. I've looked at this list many times, so I've got a bit of a helping hand here.
Adam:
[19:26] And if you want to be an expert backpacker, that's something you've got to study.
Alun:
[19:30] It's very important.
Adam:
[19:33] Number three, here we go. Just like his mother before him, King Charles III doesn't actually own a passport. Why? Is it A, he never leaves the country? Is it B, he has royal diplomatic immunity? Is it C, all British passports are issued in his name? Or is it D, he prefers to travel incognito?
Alun:
[19:54] I mean, obviously not A or D. It's just a question. of whether it's justified by saying oh it's royal diplomatic immunity or if they justify it by saying oh they're issued in his name so how could he actually have it that one sounds apocryphal to me i think saying oh it's issued in his name so how could he have one it's just a essentially a document isn't it that wouldn't be justification enough not to have one so i reckon it's got to be b it.
Adam:
[20:24] Is in fact c all british passports are issued in his name.
Alun:
[20:27] Yeah like i said sounds apocryphal to me i don't think that would be reason enough not to have a passport i think he what is he i mean i've.
Adam:
[20:38] Seen when i did i totally get what you mean because when someone says something like that to you go oh yeah i suppose that's right but when you actually think about it a little bit deeper i did some like studying on reddit and stuff and people were explaining why he doesn't have one because they're issued in his name and i was like thinking yeah yeah but i don't think that really matters does it.
Alun:
[20:55] What you think he's in like the queue to get into a country and someone says passport sir and he goes just look at anyone's just look at anyone's passport just grabs a random woman look at her passport there see that that's my name it says your highness yeah and what am i pretty fucking high so fuck off yeah.
Adam:
[21:14] We're gonna require a picture sir um someone even said on reddit because the whole world the entire world knows when he travels you you wouldn't need one because everyone's already aware.
Alun:
[21:24] Yeah.
Adam:
[21:25] I'm like...
Alun:
[21:26] I'd say you'd need one.
Adam:
[21:27] It seems like a little bit of a free pass, if you ask me. But anyway, we move on. Number four. The first known passport-like document was introduced by which ruler and in what year? Was it A, Julius Caesar in 44 BC? Was it B, King Artaxerxes of Persia in 445 BC? Was it C, Emperor Constantine in 312 AD? Or was it D, King Henry V of England in 1414 AD?
Alun:
[22:00] Passport-like document here's my thinking here's my working out i would say xerxes he was more about getting everyone homogenized into the persian empire and having them all like be under him as one ruler so i think he doesn't have a need for passports because he just thinks everyone get in amongst it i think caesar he's obviously dealing with a very big empire lots of different places lots of different cultures lots of different passport like document i think caesar might have had use for something like a passport constantine what year was constantine 312 ad caesar being the earliest that's not xerces for the reasons we just mentioned i think obviously like a passport is a very specific thing but a passport like document something that says i'm from here, I reckon Caesar might have had use for one, so I'm going to plump for him.
Adam:
[23:00] It is in fact B. It's King Artaxerxes of Persia in 445 BC.
Alun:
[23:05] Just earlier.
Adam:
[23:06] Yeah, found in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.
Alun:
[23:08] I've read that.
Adam:
[23:09] Oh yeah? Dating around 445 BC, Nehemiah received a letter from King Artaxerxes of Persia, granting him safe passage for an upcoming Germany.
Alun:
[23:18] And that's a passport-like document, is it? A fucking letter saying let him pass?
Adam:
[23:23] I guess so.
Alun:
[23:24] I mean, I was talking about like something that was released to the public as some sort of identification, not just please let one king through.
Adam:
[23:32] Yeah, this is this is this person and he is of this land and this is his number one, we imagine.
Alun:
[23:41] That's unbelievable, mate. I mean, OK.
Adam:
[23:45] Number five. Passports are generally limited to one of four colours, but which colour is preferred by the most nations? Is it A, blue? Is it B, red? Is it C, green? Or is it D, black?
Alun:
[24:00] I'm going to go... with c green i just feel like i've seen a lot of them.
Adam:
[24:09] Interesting i.
Alun:
[24:10] Didn't love your reaction to that so i might have to.
Adam:
[24:13] Change it to a red a is blue so so now we now we do have a strange decision to make because you said a which is blue which is correct but you also said the color red so which answer would you like me to take i.
Alun:
[24:35] I meant one that's right.
Adam:
[24:38] Okay well it is a it's blue can you believe 85 countries issue blue passports to their citizens what.
Alun:
[24:47] A shambles mate.
Adam:
[24:48] Well we've got a little bonus question see if you can redeem yourself uh it is interesting actually isn't it the um choosing the color black they can famously only let people travel in one direction across a border what where the phrase comes from once you go black.
Alun:
[25:02] Wow that was incredible i thought you i thought it was a genuinely interesting fact then about some sort of document that you get that only allows you passage one.
Adam:
[25:17] Way uh passing a border here we go over crossing the line i.
Alun:
[25:23] Think You did.
Adam:
[25:24] Yeah. That was another border joke. So the bonus question. There are only seven nations that issue black passports. Can you name one?
Alun:
[25:33] I've seen one in the wild. I'm just trying to think who had it.
Adam:
[25:39] Yeah. It's not a popular colour.
Alun:
[25:41] Hold on. Let me do a little role play. Hello there. Let me have a look at your passport. Wow. can't help but noticing it's black as the.
Adam:
[25:55] Ace of spades where.
Alun:
[25:57] Are you from really that's a really interesting.
Adam:
[26:01] Place i'm.
Alun:
[26:03] Gonna go with.
Adam:
[26:04] Drum roll india no it's incorrect i'm afraid i'll reel them off oh.
Alun:
[26:10] She lied to me did.
Adam:
[26:12] She, um so here we go in alphabetical uh not alphabetical order actually so i don't have to rearrange them angola congo malawi new zealand the palestinian territories tajikistan trinidad and tobago oh.
Alun:
[26:34] Oh oh she was actually from angola.
Adam:
[26:36] That must have been a kiwi i mean the first time i saw a black passport was here when i was with a kiwi and i saw them in a queue for the airport and i was like that's cool black passport looks awesome come.
Alun:
[26:45] To think of it i actually think she just had one of those passport covers on it.
Adam:
[26:48] Yeah you can get those in many different colors because.
Alun:
[26:54] It also had hello kitty in the corner i was thinking wow india's really.
Adam:
[26:58] Cool, dear oh dear uh so i don't think you get access to my credit card unfortunately that was absolutely abysmal Alun but we know because you do so well at these most times that um you do know a hell of a lot about travel did.
Alun:
[27:14] I get one right.
Adam:
[27:15] I think you got one right and then maybe if we're being extremely generous i think you probably got two right because you did say a but you did say red.
Alun:
[27:23] Yeah i i mean let the record show that i found a lot of the questions in that edition of tripping point a little bit on the what shall we say the frustrating side.
Adam:
[27:34] Oh okay well back to the drawing board then i'll talk to the team and we'll try and come up i think.
Alun:
[27:40] They were great.
Adam:
[27:40] Questions mate.
Alun:
[27:41] I'm not complaining about the questions i just think you might have been led astray.
Adam:
[27:45] With some of.
Alun:
[27:45] The answers that's.
Adam:
[27:46] What i'm just saying oh do you know what i should have done we should have said the stakes if you get them right you can pick the theme for the next one and then i'll come up that would be a really good thing to do maybe we'll do that for the next one maybe why don't we let the audience pick the theme if you want to hear Alun do a tripping point on a theme of your choice write in tripology podcast at gmail.com or send us a little message on instagram go.
Alun:
[28:07] To the website go on.
Adam:
[28:08] Go to the website send us a little thing on the contact form uh and then i'll get with all the elves in the back that help me prepare this show uh and then we'll we'll give it to you that way yeah.
Alun:
[28:16] I think your homework this week go to www.tropologypodcast.com forward slash hostile common room and you can say basically what your favorite travel quote is and what theme the next tripping point should be yeah.
Adam:
[28:29] Amazing we look forward to your entries.
Alun:
[28:31] But right now we're going to hear from one of you a different way because i'd be very interested to hear one of your greatest travel stories three minutes to tell us the best travel story what you've ever had maybe it's that time you went down a mountain and only your slippers or the time you used a kind of natural toothbrush that made your breath minty fresh we want to hear it we're about to hear one right now.
Tales of a Trip:
[28:55] Hello my name is sam and my social media username is surreal traveler and my craziest story is one that i experienced in cairo egypt in a neighborhood called Mansheya Nasir also more commonly known as garbage city because it is a neighborhood that's on the outskirts of cairo that collects all of the city's trash and so when you go in you see towers and towers of garbage organic waste of course it's a big shock as soon as you walk in because of the smell and because of yeah the entire experience is just like in your face and it's not for everybody. But I wasn't expecting what I was about to see, which is spending an entire day. I got my own guide who was from the neighborhood, He showed me how the trash was collected. He showed me how people lived. And I was really shocked.
Tales of a Trip:
[29:56] The most important thing to know about the neighborhood is it is Coptic Christian in a Muslim-majority country. There's a lot of Christian history in Egypt, but over the centuries, it became Muslim-majority. But that neighborhood specifically, Manchiat Nasser, a garbage city, is 90% Coptic Christian. So you see a lot of the posters of their patriarch, you see a lot of posters of Jesus. They in fact have a cave, a huge cave church that can hold thousands of people in the upper hills of the neighborhood. And so it just felt like the entire time that I was there, it was almost like a blur. I felt like it was just so blessed. People were like in high spirits.
Tales of a Trip:
[30:45] Even my guide was telling me that a lot of people take their loved ones or acquaintances there to be blessed or for miracles to happen or for miraculous healings. and I don't know that you just I felt like I was in a really really magical and blessed place there was a nun who spent over 20 years there I believe she was from France and she helped a lot of the people from the neighborhood because it is a very humble neighborhood and I spent so much time there but to me it is my craziest travel story because it just became like a blur I felt like something was completely blessing that place and i never felt something like that in my in my life it brought me a lot closer to my religion having been born christian it brought me a lot lot closer and i think it made me a huge
believer again so um i was not expecting that at all and also i wasn't supposed to go some uh little domino effect happened and i ended up going there.
Alun:
[31:53] Wow, Sam there, at the surreal traveler on Instagram with a spiritual tale. I mean, beautiful, really, this idea that location and travel can bring you to somewhere that just feels like it enlivens that sort of spiritual feeling within you. And I kind of concur with Sam. Rarely do I feel that way when I go to somewhere that's supposed to be the most spiritual. you know you go to like a beautiful temple or or like a monastery or something like that i usually feel my most uh spiritual when i go to sort of places that just have a certain vibe about them do you know what i mean.
Adam:
[32:35] Yeah yeah i do thanks so much for sending the the uh story in sam it was great i was i was completely there with you and it kind of made me think a lot about the things that we did in india together certainly going to daravi the the slum there where you know it's it's quite difficult to walk around that sort of thing because you're fully aware that you're a paying tourist if you like walking around into an environment that is sometimes awful for these people of course but there is this wonderful community there that's maybe painted in a bad light and you have the ability to remove yourself from the situation but i've been to countless places over the years where there's this kind of aura and energy about it that's inexplicable and i don't know if that's like going into the place you already have a preconceived idea people have told you that it's heavily religious or that something incredible happened there in history or something like that. I mean, it reminds me of a time when I went to a place called Gaginayama, which is on the outskirts of Yekaterinburg in Russia. And that's where I believe, is it the Romanov family, that family that were killed by the KGB in Russia, is where their bodies were buried. And now there are, I think, eight chapels and churches there in the forest, in the places where they were buried. And you walk around, and I was very I mean, I met a girl.
Adam:
[33:49] Offered to just take me out in her car and we drove all the way there because it's outside the city in the forest it was covered in snow because it was winter and even though there were a few other people walking around it's in the forest there's snow on the floor but nothing made a sound.
Adam:
[34:05] And it was it was otherworldly almost it was so so silent it was almost deafening i mean i've just i don't think i've ever been anywhere quite like it.
Alun:
[34:14] Yeah there's two different types of spirituality for me really I think there's that kind that you're describing where serenity brings a feeling of spirituality where peace brings a sense of spirituality
and there's that other sort of feeling that I think Sam's describing which is like sort of community and the feeling of spirituality that that brings and I think that you can see that in religions when they try and conjure a sense of spirituality some religions do that with vibrant singing and dancing and the evocation of this community spirit we're all together and some do it with somber candlelit serenity and I think that like evocation of spirituality is really interesting in that way I think the times where I felt most spiritually connected to a place have been when I felt ensconced by community I'm thinking about like living in the Amazon and my friendship with the people there and gathering around the table and playing cards sort of late at night there's like spirituality in that as well i think that it's all really interesting yeah.
Adam:
[35:17] Yeah had you heard of the place that sam had been to or have you been there yourself because i know you've traveled around.
Alun:
[35:22] I've been to cairo and i've noted that there was certainly a lot of garbage going around but not the specific place that he mentioned yeah.
Adam:
[35:30] Garbage city i mean it's awful isn't it well on a slightly lighter note i guess do you remember that place that i don't think you got to in mumbai which is where all the washing of the whole city goes. I can't remember what the name is, but it's amazing. It's like one area of this very poor area. But I think it's actually a slum itself. It's like a huge group of houses, almost like a neighbourhood. And all of the laundry, whether that's bedsheets, pillowcases, clothes, they're kind of big, big companies, big hotel chains and everything. They will send their linens and other washing and stuff to this one neighbourhood to get cleaned. And it's amazing to walk around. It really is.
Alun:
[36:09] Yeah, my clothes came back from there with like chalk all over them. because obviously they get like big they get like a big influx of like all the laundry in Mumbai and they just have to mark them off and keep them together it's the only way to do it so you go that was my very spiritual laundry experience indeed thank you so much for sending in your travel story Sam go check him out at surreal underscore traveler on Instagram if you have an amazing travel story can be anything you like go to tropologypodcast.com forward slash tales of a trip and send in three minutes your greatest travel story now though we're going to head off to the lost and found section after the episode a special little 15 minutes where we go all bonkers and crazy over available
Tales of a Trip
Alun:
[36:51] on patreon we'll see you there see.
Adam:
[36:54] You there guys thanks ever so much we'll see you next week bye bye.
