Ever felt like your travel tales paled in comparison to the globetrotter who's been everywhere? You're not alone. Join us as we swap stories of adventure one-upmanship and the odd pressure to have the most unique travel experiences. It's an honest look at how the quest to outdo each other's itineraries can sometimes steal the joy from our present adventures. We laugh, we rant, and we question whether the stampede for the next passport stamp is about the journey or just the bragging rights. Plus, we dive into the unasked-for travel advice that seems to come from every direction and consider what truly motivates us to pack our bags and see the world.
The road less travelled sometimes leads to boredom and fleeting friendships, as we discover in this episode's candid conversation about long-term travel. We reminisce on the thrills of discovering hidden gems and the disenchantment with tourist traps that have lost their luster. But it's not all existential musings; we also lighten the mood with a playful debate on what we'd fill a hypothetical mansion with - spoiler, the answers range from tech gadgets to a trusty bar of Cadbury's. So whether you're into heartfelt discourse or hypothetical hilarity, this episode has a little something for every type of wanderer. Share your travel highs, lows, and mansion must-haves with us – we can't wait to hear what makes your list!
Ever felt like your travel tales paled in comparison to the globetrotter who's been everywhere? You're not alone. Join us as we swap stories of adventure one-upmanship and the odd pressure to have the most unique travel experiences. It's an honest look at how the quest to outdo each other's itineraries can sometimes steal the joy from our present adventures. We laugh, we rant, and we question whether the stampede for the next passport stamp is about the journey or just the bragging rights. Plus, we dive into the unasked-for travel advice that seems to come from every direction and consider what truly motivates us to pack our bags and see the world.
The road less travelled sometimes leads to boredom and fleeting friendships, as we discover in this episode's candid conversation about long-term travel. We reminisce on the thrills of discovering hidden gems and the disenchantment with tourist traps that have lost their luster. But it's not all existential musings; we also lighten the mood with a playful debate on what we'd fill a hypothetical mansion with - spoiler, the answers range from tech gadgets to a trusty bar of Cadbury's. So whether you're into heartfelt discourse or hypothetical hilarity, this episode has a little something for every type of wanderer. Share your travel highs, lows, and mansion must-haves with us – we can't wait to hear what makes your list!
I've also eaten um the vegan sausage rolls. Are you ashamed? I'm not, but it's meant to be a monster hit for the famous chairs.
Speaker 1:
I promise you, the president has a big step, but I'm telling you now and not an RMAB now. I didn't want to say it as in front of him, but he will go right to the very top, right to the very top.
Speaker 2:
If that is not a great tip, that's his job.
Speaker 1:
We're here for the bands Grad and Rance. Grad and Rance, hey son. Hello, this week's Rant, oh yeah, oh yeah, rant time.
Speaker 2:
You're listening to the sounds of Grad and Rance, so my Rant is travel one-upmanship.
Speaker 1:
Travel one-upmanship. It is yeah, you've been travelling quite a bit.
Speaker 2:
I have done in my youth.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I went travelling for like seven or eight months.
Speaker 1:
That's cool.
Speaker 2:
I went like that, visited a lot of places. Now the thing is with travels is that if you go anywhere, let's say you're in a hostel somewhere- yeah. Is the obnoxious wankers in there. If you're trying to have a chat with someone, someone, basically they always say that they've gone somewhere, or they insinuate that they have gone somewhere better, always, always. So when I was in Krakow, people go oh, but you need to go to Budapest. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I've been to Budapest, it's really good. And then you're like, oh no, here's pretty good, but it's really good there. Yeah, when I was in Austin, I was like I'm going to Sydney. We were like, oh, you really need to go to Melbourne, I really need to go to Melbourne.
Speaker 1:
I just think that sums up people who've got travelling anywhere to do it just to show other people that they're doing it Sometimes.
Speaker 2:
Do you know? What people have a hard time with is saying that they are actually having a really amazing time in the moment.
Speaker 1:
What right now yeah.
Speaker 2:
Because they don't want to admit to themselves that right now could be the highlight of their life, so that they can kind of always look back on things and be like, oh, that time is actually really amazing. But I've texted you randomly okay, like on days when I think this might be the best time of our lives, because you know what?
Speaker 1:
We're having a good time.
Speaker 2:
There's a lot of good things going on. A lot of exciting things about life. I think that when people travel, they're using it as a vehicle to just shit on other people.
Speaker 1:
I totally agree with you. I mean, yeah, they're about people who I went to Bali. Yeah, One guy I used to work in the pub with was like she had a picture with a tiger and he obviously drugged out of its head.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I've done that. By the way, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I suppose maybe she was. Yeah, one upmanship is unbelievable. People are like that anyway in life. Anything you do, I've been there, I've did this. When I told people I was going to New York, people were like, yeah, we did it and we did all this, this and this. And then they presumed you're doing it less than what they did. So I was telling my neighbor about it and he was like, yeah, I went for a week. And he was like, oh, I'm going for two weeks. He's like what?
Speaker 2:
People have a hard time just sitting on other people's information.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's nice, yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 2:
I remember once being at a Halloween party and this guy was a bit of a dickhead, but I was talking about Jiu Jitsu. But we trained in the same place but there was a boxing gym within that and he was like, oh, you should do the boxing there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, why I'm really really enjoying Jiu Jitsu.
Speaker 2:
Why should I?
Speaker 1:
So what specifically? Just so I agree with you yeah, yeah, yeah, I was like no, but why Jiu Jitsu for two years or three years?
Speaker 2:
at that point I was like sorry, no, I'm sure you were having fun. But his next thing was he wasn't to listen to what I was saying. It was you should do the boxing there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Fuck it, making me furious thinking about it. Yeah, why are?
Speaker 1:
you great, I'm with you, yeah. Yeah, I'm already doing something I'm telling you, I'm doing, something I'm enjoying.
Speaker 2:
You should just let people sit. If someone says oh, you know, I'm really thinking of doing an aerobic exercise, involved my fists.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, got any ideas? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
You should do the boxing I go. Well, that makes sense, but it's just that thing, just stop it, stop telling me yeah. I'm actually getting more and more worked, visibly. I pause it for a minute, yeah, yeah, but I've never been traveling and to me it just seems horrific.
Speaker 1:
Like the people like yeah, we spent eight days in sharing an 18 bed dorm with 18 wankers. Do you know what?
Speaker 2:
I mean yeah, I mean you've been. It sounds like Christmas dinner really yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:
I mean, the people would put me off the plane, the people would put me off the places. I'm sure be amazing, but the travel people who travel Anybody I've known who's been traveling apparently good self just seems like a vacuous ticket anywhere.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so like give me an example of people one up and should be well, it would just be anything like it will just be wherever you have gone.
Speaker 2:
They have gone somewhere better, or like it doesn't matter, like, and it's like, well, and even if you know what happens is, if you did go to the same cities, then you go. I actually I did go to be the best they go, yeah, but did you go to this bar? And then you're like, yeah, I did. Oh, next time you go you really need to go there. And then sometimes, when you kind of fall into the naïve, the trap of those things, you go and you go. I Feel the same.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I feel the same.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Measure my mood right now. It's the same. I didn't need to do this like but. But don't you think like I think you're depressed? Oh, I'm actually not. Feel this hello that's a nice waterfall.
Speaker 1:
No, but I, yeah, you see that thing, you call that a waterfall. I was in yeah, Denizia. Oh, that was. This isn't even a puddle compared to that. Yeah, yeah, it's like grow up.
Speaker 2:
I think people do just have a whole time enjoying what's around them.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, in the moment as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I think it is the thing they don't want to admit that what's right now might be the best, might be the peak.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you're right, I've hit the hill. Yeah, and then you realize you're on the way down it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah which is sad yeah now the good if people do want to travel, okay, like, if you do it when you're single, it's really good, it's because you just do not know what is gonna happen with your night. Yeah you know like it is. It's an incredibly fun time. Like because you don't have any constraints on you. Do you know what I mean? It's like well, there's a hot girl who's just arrived. We're like that, you know, and you know you might. There's that sort of excitement around the night. Yeah, do you know?
Speaker 2:
me and of Unadulterated flirting and so on, which is, like it's very enjoyable yeah and you get see.
Speaker 1:
You get see some trees and that I'm sure you get to see some tits. Yeah, I imagine you did.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I've done.
Speaker 1:
But what about the cities and stuff? Is it? Like tell you yeah, so I mean that's. I couldn't tell you I feel like you sat in the hostel, so everyone got back for drinks.
Speaker 2:
I remember sitting in a hostel in Thailand watching the film the beach, yeah. But you know what? There's nothing like, there's nothing to do all day when you travel because you don't have a job Like you go out at night, oh yeah no, but you go out at night I mean it's like love is all these people go on just the world's longest love island.
Speaker 2:
That's all you do, yeah, but there's only so many times you couldn't. So I did a little hike in the Was it copain yang. Yeah like lovely island, but you do that. You can't do that every day.
Speaker 1:
You're there for a week. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Well, I'm gonna go back up that mountain again.
Speaker 1:
No, I suppose you can't really get to other places because you haven't got any money. I, I don't know. It seems a bit odd, doesn't?
Speaker 2:
it. The thing that really makes or breaks travelling is the people around. Like, the people that you get is the randomness on the concoctions of the dynamics that you get.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
Because you'll meet unbelievable dickheads and then, occasionally, you'll meet with someone that you really click with.
Speaker 1:
Right, that's great. Yeah, who's a really good crack. That must feel good to me, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
When I was in Auckland. Now Auckland's a pretty boring place.
But it's pretty again. It's sort of like well, I do like Bromley, but it's like Bromley High Street.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, like that's, like the city. Yeah, is it?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's tiny, it's just like a shopping centre, right, and but the group of people that I had in that dorm room were like really fun.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Like eight or nine of us, like Germans and Americans and like an English people Like do you drink every night?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
We just all go out.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And then it's sort of like you have about five days together and that's it. You don't never see each other again. I like that, in fact, I did see someone again, but I saw them in America and over here actually.
Speaker 1:
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:
They were really nice. But yeah like, but it's just, but as a group you guys will never, ever see each other again. So you just get to enjoy that little bit. Yeah, that's cool, See Mara, not depressed.
Speaker 1:
No, I don't know. Yeah, well, you are, but we'll talk about that.
Speaker 2:
I don't know.
Speaker 1:
I just don't see that If you're not going to go like Machu Picchu and climb up the thing, and that yeah, but why that light as in that's like an Instagram thing now, machu Picchu. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
On. Everyone's hit every woman and man's a hinge profile.
Speaker 1:
There's a picture of them outside of Machu Picchu.
Speaker 2:
It's just unbelievable. Yeah, and everyone goes like best travel story and says I got changed by the Colombian mafia.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, everyone. That just shows I'm boring people in real life Honestly. Yeah, honestly.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, no, it's shocking, but I've looked at, like I'm like my, like female friends, like hinge profile, saying you get to look at the male ones, and they're exactly the same as women, yeah. It's exactly the same.
Speaker 1:
Oh my God, I went traveling.
Speaker 2:
Like you, just get an equally an equal distribution of boring cunts everywhere.
Speaker 1:
to be honest, I think we're depressed. I think we're so depressed it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2:
This is a hard time to find out.
Speaker 1:
I'm just like yeah, no, everyone is a dickhead out there. You are right, yeah.
Speaker 2:
No, do you know what? We're finding out more and more about ourselves?
Speaker 1:
We're brilliant and everyone else is a knob.
Speaker 2:
There's that. Is that how simple we are. We just want to have a roast at a pub and have a beer.
Speaker 1:
That's so true.
Speaker 2:
Like that is. I wouldn't want to do anything. I don't want to go to a concert.
Speaker 1:
No, could I not want to go to a concert If?
Speaker 2:
I said to you I mean you should go to a comedy night. There's no way we'd want to do that.
Speaker 1:
No, we wouldn't do it.
Speaker 2:
We love comedy.
Speaker 1:
No, I'd do it. I'd do it every week. I'd rather just sit here and watch Roy Keane documentary and get eight cans. Absolutely, do you know?
Speaker 2:
what I mean. That sounds really good.
Speaker 1:
Actually we'll do that tonight.
Speaker 2:
Eight cans and a Roy Keane documentary.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. We did that set in the pub. We just had a good laugh. It was brilliant. But would I not want to go to a concert? The faff that is involved in going to a concert. The people ruined the concert. We had to press, son, we had to press honestly.
Speaker 2:
We're just getting older and reasoned. It's not depression, because we're actually. If it matters what our happiness is, we're quite content, don't have love.
Speaker 1:
at the moment, we just don't like overrated nonsense and travel.
Speaker 2:
To be fair, travelling, I'd say about a quarter of a third of it was exhilarating and amazing, and then there's a lot in the middle that's quite boring.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Because you're not. You must have had that when you went to New York. It's like there's actually large parts throughout the day and especially if you're not going with a mate, you're actually just stuck on watching things you'd watch back home on YouTube. You're probably watching the overlap.
Speaker 1:
I watched San Fel. Yeah, yeah, I watched San Fel for quite a lot of it in the hotel I was sighting in a little bagel Watching San Fel later on, till I had the gig. And also, yeah, no, you're absolutely correct, I can't be bothered to what. One day I went and watched the Ghostbusters building and I was like cool, yeah.
Speaker 2:
I was so depressed.
Speaker 1:
But the thing I think about travelling things, that is, people ruin it by taking videos. And I'm not saying anything groundbreaking here, but people video everything, like you would never watch it back. It's like people were videoing, like the fireworks at Groundhog Day and I'm like just watch it. I mean, who's going to watch that video of you? Who are you going to send it to? Are you going to sit back and watch the fireworks that you've already watched? Everyone watches everything through a camera. It's just unbelievable.
Speaker 2:
I think we're just getting old. Yeah, I totally agree. Do I not mind that Do?
Speaker 1:
you know what mate, I don't mind either.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
So travelling was so. For instance, everyone tries to one-up you on any. If you say you're going somewhere, but it must be, anybody will one-up you on it. And also nobody cares where you've been. They only care about what, which is right. They care about where they've been or where they're going because it's special to them. But that must be heightened 100% when you travel in with like 10 people Also.
Speaker 2:
It's like what I think it's sort of like, it's like being travelling sort of heightens the feeling of like when someone transfers to a school is that they can reinvent themselves and kind of like and kind of give a bit of a persona, that, whether they make themselves harder or more flamboyant or they just give them a bit of an impression of themselves, that's a bit of a lie, yeah, so that they can kind of, and no one else, no one's there to tell you otherwise. They can't go. Well, your brother actually told me that you're a knob.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, exactly, no one's there to do that. Really Like, when you go to uni, you can reinvent yourself if you wanted to. Yeah, a lot of people said that they did that. Yeah, they reinvented themselves. They made it all clear oh, you knew, yeah Pretty pretty clear. Look at that one.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, no, but yeah, so it's just heightened, isn't it? Yeah, it's just people.
Speaker 1:
So you would say where did you go? Like, let's give you, you went to a lot of different places.
Speaker 2:
America, canada went all over. America, canada, costa Rica Did you See, Thailand, yeah, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand.
Speaker 1:
Sick.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's great. No, people should travel.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
It's amazing yeah boring though isn't it? Two thirds of it is boring.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 2:
No small parts of it are like wow, and it's the fact that you are forced to be social. So look, I will pay devil's advocate. The more positive aspects of it is that you kind of have to be really social with people. So in terms of that skill that you can kind of develop of losing your inhibitions around talking to strangers, is really like pumped up, because you know otherwise, you realize that you're just not going to have a good time.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, no.
Speaker 2:
The first two weeks actually, I remember I was staying, I was in New York and I was like I'm really bored. I did go to Enzo Grace in New York and there's a guy called John Donahoe teaching there like that was sort of 10 years ago. That was good.
Speaker 1:
I suppose if you're not doing the tourist stuff and it's like I don't want to do the talk like yeah, and the statue of Liberty? That cost you 80 quid to go up.
Speaker 2:
Does it?
Speaker 1:
yeah, like all the Empire State building that's. That's like 79 quid. You don't go to the very, you go to the top, which is the traditional top, but it's random anywhere. Do you know what? I mean yeah you know what really booked me about? It's just just like I could have gotten to about four million arguments for people really. I mean, I had to just leave it really. Pizza was nice.
Speaker 2:
We've lost our hunger for life. Well, we don't, we don't, we just want, we just enjoy a really small part of it. Yeah, having a wank and a camp, yeah lovely.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that pizza was nice.
Speaker 2:
That was a wank and a can, or wank in a can.
Speaker 1:
Yeah no, it's. I mean, look, it's the thing of traveling is you get like when I got to me, I like when you saw the streets and the yellow cabs and everything, the steam great, you're like, wow, this is cool yeah after about a day. No, it is cool, it's amazing we're.
Speaker 2:
We're. It's 50 50. It's not as good as what people say they are. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:
Nothing is as good as what people make out to me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you're looking on Instagram for stuff.
Speaker 2:
Well, you do think of the best things in your life. Yeah, it's not travel. If someone said, right, you've ever got a night with? I've actually played this game with my housemates. But I've said to them I'm like, right, okay, let's say we're in a. It's not really a game, it's just sort of seeing what people value, yeah. But, like I say, if we go to, let's say, a big mansion in the countryside and In that mansion there's either a load of money, there's a load of drugs.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
There's people of the opposite sex that you you're in with a shout with that you fancy yeah. Oh, and like your annual mates are there, or alcohols there's. Like, which order do you pick them? And you can only pick like two.
Speaker 1:
Do I get to keep the money, because then I feel like if I had the money I could, I could buy all the other things let's say, let's say, yeah, okay, let's, let's exclude.
Speaker 2:
I don't think I actually included the money, yeah it's good money exclude money, or there's, or you could say there's a job interview there that you like yeah, even in the mansion. Yeah, job interview is long term, though, or the night out. There's there's alcohol and drugs.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, let's go for the night out.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, or you can like you, or like you can have mates there, but there's no alcohol. Now fuck that we just rather get. So what you want to say is you'd like to get drunk by yourself.
Speaker 1:
I think I'm depressed. No, I don't know what I'd pick. I probably if there was loads of beautiful women who want to sleep with me.
Speaker 2:
I didn't have a room, you'd be, you'd be. No, they're not necessarily like a sure thing, but but like if I, if you were like that, if I said to you Mary, get yourself down to this mansion.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, somebody better get down.
Speaker 2:
There's a load of sexy girls down here.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2:
Oh, the alcohol yeah, but the thing is, if you take the drugs it's gonna be hard to get out.
Speaker 1:
If you're gonna Pick two of them, yeah you gotta be smart here.
Speaker 2:
You don't necessarily have to answer it. And then guys, ladies and men of the pod, if you're listening, have a think about your order.
Speaker 1:
I'd like to have a good night out with my mates.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
I'd also like to bang beautiful women. I'd also like to do loads of drunks tech and drink alcohol. The job interview sounds good as well.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, a job that you like.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I don't know trying to think.
Speaker 2:
I'm trying it. I'm trying to think of like ten things I can put in this mansion.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, there's a more chicken in it as well.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, um a bar of Cadbury's.
Speaker 1:
I don't know.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, just something to think about it's interesting in it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's a pick two, but that, but that's I'm.
Speaker 2:
The point I'm trying to make is like if someone's like all there's tickets to blah, blah blah, I'd go yeah.
Speaker 1:
I'm alright, thanks, I'll just take what's in the mansion? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
So you've got the option to travel, you've got the option to get a new job, you've got the option to to shig Like, yeah, you know, I mean let us know what you think.
Speaker 1:
I know which ones I'd pick which would you pick?
Speaker 2:
I Think like alcohol and mates would be up there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, if you knew that they're like you won't allow the alcohol with emits we haven't discovered, we haven't I, we haven't been out of down the way yeah minute yeah. Yeah, I think that a bit of a finna mansion.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, we've got. We will come back to that. That the mystery.
Speaker 1:
I'm sure about that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you get, let's say, eight to ten things. Which the order do you put them in?
Speaker 1:
Yeah we'll come back to that and let us know if you think we're depressed on the Social media as well. Are you feel depressed? There's any doctors listening?