Treasures of our Town
Embark on an exhilarating voyage through the heart of America's captivating towns and cities with the enthralling travel podcast, "Treasures of our Town." Join your experienced hosts, Craig (Seemyshell) and Joshua (Geocaching Vlogger), as they unveil the hidden gems and extraordinary treasures that lie beyond the surface.
Delve into a world of cultural exploration as our hosts guide you through historical sites, natural splendours, and extraordinary local experiences. All their travels are guided by their love of outdoor games like Geocaching and Munzee. Whether you're a seasoned globetrotter or a curious beginner, our captivating city tours and off-the-beaten-path destinations will ignite your wanderlust and leave you inspired.
Are you ready for an unforgettable adventure? Tune in now and prepare to immerse yourself in the allure of "Treasures of our Town." Let us ignite your curiosity, fuel your desire for exploration, and set your spirit free as we unravel the secrets that make each town a true treasure trove.
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Website - www.treasuresofourtown.buzzsprout.com
Email - treasuresofourtownpodcast@gmail.com
Treasures of our Town
Patreon Q&A - A Potpourri Part 1
Ever wondered what makes a hamburger different in America versus Australia? Join us on a journey filled with cultural quirks, musical magic, and personal anecdotes as we explore the vibrant world around us. This episode celebrates musicals, with stories from the premiere of "Wicked" the movie and a nostalgic dive into classic theater favorites, creating a lively conversation about our top musical picks. Alongside our musical musings, we share heartfelt stories about selling cars, buying vans, and embracing healthier lifestyles, all while strengthening our connection with our patrons.
Travel and food enthusiasts will savor this episode as we recount culinary adventures across the globe. From the unique experience of catching "throwed rolls" at Lambert's Cafe to the bold flavors of New Jersey pizza, our tales of tasting local delicacies will inspire your next culinary exploration. We also recount our visits to iconic eateries like Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern and Dick's Last Resort, where the dining experience is just as flavorful as the food itself.
Planning a road trip soon? We've got you covered with tips and tools to enhance your journey, from essential travel apps like Road Trippers and iOverlander to quirky attractions like Denver's Casa Bonita. Our adventures don't stop there; discover the world of Thomas Dambo's trolls and the fun of geocaching with our vibrant community. As we celebrate our achievements, including being ranked as the number one geocaching podcast for 2024, we look forward to more interactive sessions with our listeners and continue to explore the treasures of our town and beyond.
ShowNotes LINK
In America they call the meat patty hamburger, whereas Australia, the rest of the world a hamburger is the entire thing. But anyway, that's something different again.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your weekly cultural moment, okay.
Speaker 1:Anytime, anytime.
Speaker 2:Do you love to travel? Do you love road trips? Do you love road trips? Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.
Speaker 1:And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Our Town. It's the podcast that explores the unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.
Speaker 2:Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.
Speaker 1:And on today's episode, Josh, we reached out. We reached out to our good friends, our family members, our patrons, and we asked them what did they want to hear, what did they want to listen to? And you call it a potpourri of questions A potpourri, a potpourri, a patron?
Speaker 2:I? What's a potpourri? A potpourri, a patron? I just thought I had a nice ring to it Patron potpourri of Q and A questions. And I'm calling it part one because we oh yeah, we don't know how far we're going to get Right and if this is true and if this goes well, this is maybe could be like an ongoing thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and ongoing thing, once every six months or something. We could reach out and do it from there Exactly. It sounds good and it's another way to give back to our patrons as well, because they are, they are family members. They are really good to us as well and we do really do appreciate every single one of them too. So all want to get into your delays and upgrades before we start. It's time, because you've got, you've got, you've got a good one coming up. I'll say that.
Speaker 2:I'll say you want my delay first, or do you want my upgrade first?
Speaker 1:start with you. It's very different. We start with your upgrade. Okay, I want to leave your delay to very, very last. So I'll you do your upgrade, I'll do my two, and then you finish with your delay, okay craig, you know how much I love and I enjoy the wizard of oz right, oh yes yes, of course I went with you in florida down to the wizard of oz museum. Yes, we?
Speaker 2:we traveled down the yellow brick road together, didn't we?
Speaker 1:well, I videoed you traveling down the skipping literally a grown man skipping down the yellow brick road that's right.
Speaker 2:So I also am a big fan of musicals, and one of my favorite musicals of all time is the musical wicked and craig. I've been waiting for 20 years for what I did last night with my, myself and the reester bunny we went to wicked the musical, the movie, wow, wow, that's really cool. Did you enjoy it? Yeah, have you? Have you ever seen wicked greg have?
Speaker 1:you was it, was it the movie? Did you say it was a movie? It's a movie? It wasn't a stage? No, oh so it wasn't the stage, no, but I'm gonna say the movie was so good.
Speaker 2:I okay, I love the musical, but the movie yeah dare I say, was maybe even better than the musical. It was fantastic really wow.
Speaker 1:Have you seen the actual musical?
Speaker 2:yes, I've seen the musical twice in person. Okay, um, okay, and it's fantastic. I love the music. It's great. Um, and do you know anything, craig? Do you know anything about wicked? You know, like what it is?
Speaker 1:I've seen wicked the musical in sydney, australia, going back now, going back now over 10 years ago. Oh, you've seen it, that's great.
Speaker 2:So if you don't, know it's basically the prequel to the Wizard of Oz and it's basically how did the Wicked Witch of the West become wicked? And it was just man. It was just fantastic. I know this isn't a pop culture podcast, although I talk about it a lot, but this is quite a film and this is the time of year where people kind of have some extra time with the holidays. I really highly recommend this movie. Even if you're not a big musical fan, this is very entertaining. It's a beautiful movie. It's really cool. So that was my upgrade. I've been waiting 20 years. The W my upgrade. I've been waiting 20 20 years. The wicked wicked the broadway show has been out for 20 years and I've always thought. I've always thought, gosh, this would make a really good movie and it did.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, before we start with the, uh, with the patron questions as well. Josh, I got a question for you straight away what's your favorite ever musical you've actually watched? Oh, there we go, go. That's thrown you for a six because you weren't on the. This isn't on the show notes, people, so just to let you know it's funny because we can come back to it if you like.
Speaker 2:No, I think I know.
Speaker 1:It's wicked.
Speaker 2:I love that musical. That's how much I love. I love other musicals too. Now come on back to the future, the musical which I've talked about.
Speaker 1:I think on this podcast.
Speaker 2:That was fantastic I also love the musical rent um, you know are you aware of rent?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, I love rent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah yep and um gosh, I. I love the classics too. I love sound of music. I love oklahoma. I love, I love the music man. I like, kind of like those classics too, fiddler on the roof fan fandom of the opera phantom phantom. You know, I've never seen phantom of the opera.
Speaker 1:No I know I should really, but I know it. I'm more enriched than what you are, but I know it see, I know it I should. I'm cut. He's people if you. This is a podcast, so audio only, but josh is actually covering half of his face, as he does that too, by the way. Anyway, mine, josh, believe it or not, mine is actually, excuse me, 42nd street oh, that's a great one.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of dancing. There's a lot of dancing like a lot of tap dancing in that one tap dancing, exactly right.
Speaker 1:And for me as well, josh, it's not just the dancing, because I saw it. I'm 49 years of age. Okay, I was 14 years of age when I saw 42nd street and I still remember it to this day I made an impression on you it really, did it really?
Speaker 1:the back of the day. Anyway, we we're digressing, we're deep diving, we should. Well, let's come back up to the surface and let's go with my delay. This is going to be a quick one because we've heard this before. Josh, I'm still getting scam messages on selling my car, like what is, with these scam artists doing the same thing over and over again. So, anyway, not spending any more time on those people, I'm moving on to my upgrade because I'm more excited about that.
Speaker 2:Ready for this, Josh. Hold on. Ready for this, Josh. Hold on I want to talk a little bit about your delay. Are you going to just change your strategy? I think you should just do something else to sell this thing, or are you in no rush to sell it?
Speaker 1:I kind of am a little bit in a rush-ish to sell it this year. I need to sell it by this year. But I've got a backup plan anyway that I can, okay, like fall back on. It's not as much. You know what I mean. If you sell it to an actual company it's not as much. It's nowhere near as much. But uh, if I need to, there's a backup plan there. So they get it off your hands. But my upgrade I need to talk about my upgrade okay upgrade.
Speaker 1:I, josh, has purchased a new or new for me 2017 model, fully decked out, savannah. An actual real van, pro master van, high top that you can walk in. There's a, there's a bathroom inside, there's a shower oh my gosh, oh yeah, oh yeah, there's the queen bed, there's the cooktop, there's, you know, there's gonna be a desk for me there to do my podcasting from there, josh.
Speaker 2:So there you go, there might be actually enough room for me. So we don't have to get hotels anymore.
Speaker 1:Well, if you want to share a bed with me, then there's a different story. Now, you would share a bed with me. I wouldn't share a bed with you, just saying.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks a lot.
Speaker 1:There's enough, and Tim knows why. Anyway, hey, you know what, craig?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is kind of personal, but I'll say it because people listening in our family. I've lost quite a bit of weight over the last three months. I have noticed that.
Speaker 1:I have seen that.
Speaker 2:Which means that everything is flowing a lot better through my nose, your airflow.
Speaker 1:Your airflow is a lot better in the nighttime.
Speaker 2:The doctor said that kind of stuff stops if you lose weight.
Speaker 1:It does it honestly, does it honestly does. So there you go, and that's why I'm on a mission at the moment too, josh to lose some kilos, to lose some kegs. We call it in Australia. So hopefully, next time people see me at an event, I would look a little bit different, hopefully, than what I used to look like.
Speaker 2:But we'll see, we'll see. Anyway, I just want to say congratulations. That is amazing. I know that was one of your, your hopes, you, I, we know how much you love being on the road, and this is just going to make it even more fantastic. And craig, a 2017. It's going to be yeah, that's, that's not that old, that's nice, that's gonna's going to run 70,000 miles on it and these things can last up to a million miles, sometimes, some of them the ProMasters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the ProMasters are a good quality vehicle, so I had it all checked out as well. It's in Phoenix, arizona, and I had it all checked out by a mechanic over there. I was waiting for the mechanic's report to come back, to come back, and it came back all clear and all good and uh, yeah, and that's it. So I fly to phoenix in december, start of december, and pick it up from there. And it's she. She already has a name from her previous owner. Her name, her name is tuesday, tuesday.
Speaker 2:So there you go is there a reason why it's tuesday? Did you ask them?
Speaker 1:yes, and the reason for it is because apparently her the owner current owner at the moment heard father's um song or something is called tuesday. Like her, father's favorite song is tuesday, something to do with tuesday, whereas me I'm gonna say to people okay, no worries, see you next tuesday, if you know what I mean, so as an australian. So there you go, there you go. There's my delay and my upper. We're gonna get to your delays, josh. I think we should.
Speaker 2:I'm so happy for you. Mine is also vehicle related, I know.
Speaker 1:My delay is Let you talk about your delay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Monday morning. You know Mondays can be rough people and we try to do things that make it less rough. Right, you know we got to ease into the week, but I was in a hurry. I had the Reister, bunny and my son who just began driving, by the way in the car, oh yes, in the car.
Speaker 2:So I hit the button to open up the garage door and I put it into reverse and I start pulling out of my garage. And I pulled out a little too soon because the top of my subaru hit the garage, scraped my car, dented and kind of bent the garage door. So I couldn't really. If I press the button it wouldn't go down anymore. Oh, I was so mad. Some really interesting things came out of my mouth. Yes, and I had to. I, I was able to manually push it all the way up because it was stuck.
Speaker 2:I pull out and then you know how you can like disconnect yeah, yeah, the disc you so you can like do it manually, and I did and it wouldn't even close that way and I had to force it close because it was like bent and I was just so mad. And then, you know, I went on about my day and I was just thinking about all day. I was so frustrated, so upset, especially since my son is a new driver and you know it's just, if he ever gets a fender bender or something like that happens to him, all he'll point to is Dad, you backed into the garage door, come on.
Speaker 1:He's got to get out of jail free card for his first prank.
Speaker 2:Exactly, Exactly. But but, Craig, I was just. I was so upset and then all of a sudden I came home and I was just like, oh, just for kicks, I'm going to press the garage door button just to see if it does anything. And, Craig, it was a miracle why it just fixed itself.
Speaker 1:No, you know what it was. You left Goliath at home and there was little Goliath with a tour belt on with his hammer and nails, with his tour belt, going for a little fella.
Speaker 2:No, it fixed itself, like I think what happened is when I found, when I forced it back up, yeah it, whatever the dent or whatever it was, in kind of undented itself okay, yeah, and it kind of fixed itself I think I do need to get a tune up of the garage door just to be sure, but it's working fine and how bad and you know what I was.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, well, the car's a little scratched, but it's not bad. It's one of those things where only you notice, you know, yeah, and you're just like you look at it. You're like, oh, why did I do? But most people wouldn't notice. Anyway, that was wow, that was an interesting delay. Wow, there you go. There you go. Isn't it funny that most of our delays have to do with vehicles? Like, remember the Matt story at the car wash?
Speaker 1:That's right, that's right. And we still had people, actually some of our patrons messaging you and asking you did you get your money back for the Matt? So there you go, I still have it. There you go. All right, josh, let's lead in now. We're straight into this because we've got to get through these eight patrons. Eight patrons reached out to us, josh, with these questions, and we're going to thank them all first, and there's a few of them, and we'll let people know as well what the question was and who it was from before we give our answers. But did you want to do what? You put a definition of potpourri there.
Speaker 2:What's this definition of potpourri? It's not potpourri, it's spelled pot. It is, but it's silent. It's potpourri. The tea is silent, at least in Minnesota it's silent, and I just thought you know, craig, I thought it just had a nice ring to it Patron potpourri your grandma's house. It is a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl or small sack to perfume clothing or a room. A mixture of things, especially, oh, okay, so that, oh, there's a flower piece, but then this is the part that makes sense to us a mixture of things, especially a musical or literally a literary medley so this is literally a medley of questions there you go potpourri potpourri.
Speaker 1:I like it potpourri, potpourri, and anyway in australia we call it potpourri potpourri, it makes sense it's spelled that way.
Speaker 2:I'll accept that.
Speaker 1:There you go there, you go. All right, josh, we're getting straight into it. Question one was from jamie levin. Jam, jamie Levin, in Long Island too. So thank you very much, jamie we know his geocaching name too.
Speaker 2:Of course it's a fun name to say Motorimbo, motorimba. No, motorimba, motorimbo, I think we're killing it. Motorimba, sorry, motorimba, motorimba. That's what I was. Motorimba See.
Speaker 1:That's what I was. I wrote it in my remember. See, look at you, look at you, it's all wrong, it's all right, Anyway.
Speaker 2:Jamie sorry.
Speaker 1:His question, josh, was, must have food you've come across. He goes. I'm sorry if you've already done this, but I want to know the different types of food that you've come across in your travels. So I thought that was a great question, did you want?
Speaker 2:to lead out. Josh, let's have you lead out, because you kind of took this in a little different direction than I did. You kind of really, you actually answered the question.
Speaker 1:You were like you focused on the food yes, you focused on the food.
Speaker 2:Well, I focused on the experiences. Yes, true, true, like the experience. Like some of these places don't have the greatest food, necessarily, some of them do, yeah, but it's more about the unique experiences, yeah, so let's just maybe go back and forth. So you're, let's start with yours, I'll start with mine.
Speaker 1:Mine is always about trying local foods, josh. So, in other words, if I'm you know, if I'm at a coastal town, I want to try their delicacies. I want to try the fish that just comes off the, the boats you know what I mean all the clams or the, the lobsters in maine, for instance, that sort of stuff, um. So one of these things was when I went to florida for the first time, I had to try gator bites. So I actually had some gator bites in florida, see. So, but for me it's all about the type of food and the location, and they've got to mingle into one. For me, it's always a simple google search. All I do is I search whatever the area is I mean at the time, and then local delicacies or local food, and that's it, and it comes and shows you what they should have. So, yeah, I've had. You want me to list off mine? I'll list off mine no well, let's go.
Speaker 1:Let's just go back and forth okay for me one of the top ones. There is gator bites in florida. What about you?
Speaker 2:well, gator bites in florida. I've had gator too in louisiana also, also same thing. And let's just let's talk about gator for a second. Yeah, they always say it's like chicken. Yes, but here's the deal. It's a little gamey. It's a little gamey for me yes, and I don't, I don't like that. Oh, you don't you like that?
Speaker 1:yes, I do okay, yeah, you do. Yeah, you can taste the protein. You know. It's the same with uh, it's the same with venison, you know, or uh, or bison as well, you get bison. You can taste that. You can taste the depth of the meat, of the flavor.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, mine is a place, uh, which it also has fun food it's the billy goat tavern in chicago. Have you heard of the billy goat tavern? No, I haven't tell me about the billy. Okay, the billy goat tavern is a very famous place because it was in the 70s on saturday night live. So here's another pop culture reference. They had a skit and it was the olympia cafe and it was a place and it was john akroyd or, yeah, uh, dan akroyd and john belushi, and it it was like a restaurant where it was just so simple and they just served cheeseburgers and they would do cheeseburger cheeseburger, cheeseburger cheeseburger. And then they went no Coke, pepsi. People are like I don't want a Pepsi, just Coke. It's one of those places that it's making fun of a cafe, that their menu is so simple that you have to get the cheeseburger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what they do, the. The skit is like I like to have some eggs and some hash browns. They're like no cheeseburger, but it's breakfast anyway. Cheeseburger, yeah, exactly. And so the billy goat tavern was was what this skit on on saturday night live was based off of, and the location of it's really cool because it's below. So chicago is kind of built on. Their roads are kind of built on top of each other and there's like levels, yeah, and this one is underneath. So you're on michigan avenue in chicago and this one you have to go down, like you're down into under the street, and this tavern, this dive tavern, is under the street. Wow, this is a really unique place. And, of course, there's a geocache there.
Speaker 1:Of course, of course, most of these places there are. That's what leads us to these locations too. Let's be honest, one of my next ones, josh as well, and I recently had this when I was in my UK trip and I had to try the black pudding in England. Have you heard of black pudding in England? Have you heard of black?
Speaker 2:pudding in England.
Speaker 1:No, tell me more. So black pudding is a combination of suet or fat as well. It's also known with grain and cereal onion seasoning, and there's no denying it. Cow or pig's blood as well is involved in it too. It is black in color. It's served in a natural casing like actually an intestine, like an animal intestine casing, so it basically comes out like a sausage you know what I mean, like a hot dog, but a large-ish, thick-ish hot dog, and they slice it up and you normally have one of those slices with your breakfast in the morning, like a traditional English breakfast. They have the black pudding, you have a sausage as well, you have bacon, you have eggs, you have beans as well, you have bacon, you have eggs, you have, uh, your beans as well, baked beans as well. So, yeah, so I had to have the black pudding in england and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it um.
Speaker 2:Based on your description, that sounds disgusting. Yes, I mean a suit of fat, yes, grain or cereal, like all these things that you mixed. It's like I. None of these things sound good together, but they especially the cow or pig's blood.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes yes, and it's. It is colored because of the blood as well. It colors it black, so that's why they call it black pudding. But yeah, so yeah, very, very, very delicious, very, very. It's very similar to um in scotland as well, uh, josh, they have, they have the same sort of thing the haggis um in scotland as well, uh, josh to how they have the same sort of thing the haggis in in scotland, and that's, that's all encased inside a, uh, and it not an intestine but like a like I think it's a lamb stomach or something like that something, and that actually is cooked inside the lamb stomach and the lamb stomach is part of the casing in which you eat.
Speaker 2:So, absolutely delicious so isn't it kind of interesting that when things are in like casing in the shape of like a hot dog or brat, it just seems like it tastes better? Yeah like, but if it's not if it's not, it just meant if it's not encased in it you're kind of like ew yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, no, they're very similar, very similar. So that was my second one, mate.
Speaker 2:So black pudding in england my second one is one that we've talked about on this podcast that we have been to together and honestly I think, Craig, you introduced me to this.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then I went separately as well to another one in the location too. I went to the one in the Ozarks.
Speaker 2:Yes, because there's three locations and it's Lambert's Cafe. Home of the Th throat, throat throat. Home of the throat rolls.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and you did a tiktok video on it too. Uh, tim minnesota boy, he was there with us in in foley in alabama as well. Um, josh, what? What do they do? Why are they called throat rolls?
Speaker 2:because they walk out every what half hour with fresh baked rolls and they don't just hand them to you, they don't put them on your plate, they throw them across the room and you catch them Again. A great experience.
Speaker 1:But not only is it a good experience, but also they have delicious food there too. I mean, there was a country fried steak there. There was a chicken. I think you had the country fried chicken as well. There was the country fried steak there there was the chicken. I think you had the country fried chicken as well. But those rolls, those rolls are so fresh people that literally they bring them out in the trays that they're baked in and so they kind of look a little bit like a muffin. They've got a little muffin top as well because they're baked inside these muffin trays. And so when you get them and you open up that fresh hot roll, there's still steam and moisture that comes out. So, and you open up that fresh hot roll, there's still steam and moisture that comes out. So if you're listening to this and you start to salivate, well, you're welcome. But yeah, you don't even need butter in it sometimes you literally just have it as it is by itself, absolutely delicious. Lambert's Cafe Josh.
Speaker 2:And the locations are Foley, alabama, which is the one we went to the Ozarks, like you said, and sykestown, missouri.
Speaker 1:So there's two in missouri, one in alabama yeah, exactly, all right let's see your next one my next one is pizza in new jersey, believe it or not, and I personally tell me more, and I I personally believe and I might get hate, especially from motorimba for this as well but new jersey pizza is better than pizza in new york.
Speaker 1:It's better than pizza on long island, um, and and the reason for it? The reason for it is two reasons, twofold, and that is number one the italians in north new jersey who brought it over here. Absolutely delicious. But also, apparently, the water in which they use um is going to be separate to the water in which they use in those other sort of states or boroughs from there. So, yeah, the pizza in new jersey. I've never had pizza like it. Normally pizza in Australia, josh and people from Australia listening would understand you have, it's all about the toppings, whereas here it's got nothing to do with the toppings. The toppings literally have to be the tomato-based sauce and cheese and that's it. You don't have any other toppings on your pizza here in New Jersey. If you want a real, true new jersey pizza, yeah, that's it. You don't need anything else. The flavor, the taste, the, the crunch factor, that oh, yeah, yeah I mean, I love my toppings.
Speaker 1:I just feel like that's just like cheese bread, yeah, no, no you, it's the tomato paste as well. They use here like oh, it's sensational. So there you go, when you come to new, because you haven't been here yet. When you come we'll have to get you pizza.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm open and curious. Yes, all right, my next place is actually a chain restaurant. It is called Dick's Last Resort. Have you ever been to Dick's Last Resort? No, but. I'd like to go to dicks um, you would love this place, craig, and this is an experience. This is a place where all the servers treat you very rudely. Oh, I've heard these like like on purpose, yes, and they just yeah, they make fun of you, they.
Speaker 1:They give you these really ridiculous hats and they write like really offensive and sometimes inappropriate things on them to insult you these just I've seen these on tiktok, whereby the the young person who's actually filming the tiktok for themselves they've got the unsuspecting parent normally with them, who doesn't know what this is about, and so when they these, these white, white stuff comes up and says, you know, what do you want for dinner, fatty, you know things like that, the parents like what, what did you? Just say? It's those sort of it's those sort of things. I'm thinking. So that's funny.
Speaker 2:That's funny very cool yeah, we used to have one in the mall of america but unfortunately it closed. But there are still several locations. I think one's in vegas looking up tix.
Speaker 1:Last reward, dicks, last resort yep, no, I did see the one in Vegas as well, but my next one, josh, is fried chicken in Kentucky, believe it or not.
Speaker 2:Wait, you mean Kentucky fried chicken.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kfc, kfc, so, kfc in Kentucky. So when I first come across in 2018, I had a list of things I wanted, josh. I wanted to have a Long Island iced tea on Long Island. I wanted to have a Long Island iced tea on Long Island. I wanted to have Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky. You know what I mean. And it leads me also into my last one, which I'll put together, and that is I had Buffalo Wings in Buffalo, new York, and because it was the bar that actually created them, that created Buffalo Wings is called the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, new York, and they are absolutely delicious.
Speaker 1:And this it's not special, josh, it's like. It's like it was back in the day. It's just like a normal bar. They do have out the front the home of buffalo buffalo wings, but, uh, but that's it. There's nothing really. There's no fans fanfare, there's no special things. It's like a normal bar and like you would have back in the day when they first made the actual buffalo buffalo wings themselves. Here's a fun fact for you, josh do you know why, with your buffalo wings, they have a side of the carrot sticks and the celery? Do you know what? You've told me this before. We've talked about this? I think I have uh, it's because it's the only thing.
Speaker 2:I thought it would be.
Speaker 1:It's the only thing that the actual chef who created the buffalo wings is the only thing that he or she had like at their disposal to put with them as a side. So there you go. That's the only thing they had as a side.
Speaker 2:So there you go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's interesting, interesting, interesting. All right, that's my last one, josh as well now have you got one or two more.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, a couple more. We'll go quickly because I know we have to cover other questions. We do, but I also love places where food items originated as well, and you and I went together to Matt's Bar in Minneapolis, minnesota, which is the home, the birthplace. Now it's contested.
Speaker 2:Of course it's contested of course it's contested, but most people think this is the birthplace of the juicy lucy. Yes, and a lot of people don't know what a juicy lucy unless they're from minnesota. Basically, it's very simple. A juicy lucy is a cheeseburger with the cheese cooked inside of the burger. Yeah, so when you bite into it we've explained it here on the podcast before it's like this cheese lava that squirts out of the burger, but it is very delicious. It is exceptionally matt's bar. Matt's bar you've been there, craig. It's a very divey bar. Yes, and it's. It's similar. That's like you don't, you don't get anything with the juicy. No, like no. That's everybody gets that. There's no fanfare and there's, and there's like one guy behind the bar cooking, like in a corner cooking them.
Speaker 1:There's no kitchen. No, no, you watch him cook. You watch him cook. He's in the corner of the bar, exactly. But I will say these things they taste delicious. And for those people outside the US, if you're listening to this podcast as well, when Josh says that the cheese is inside the hamburger, he means like injected inside the meat patty itself.
Speaker 2:Yes, injected.
Speaker 1:In America they call the meat patty hamburger, whereas Australia, the rest of the world a hamburger is the entire thing. But anyway, that's something different again.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your weekly cultural moment, okay.
Speaker 1:Anytime, anytime.
Speaker 2:Do you have one more? Okay, a couple other ones. The safe house in milwaukee, wisconsin. We've talked about the safe house, haven't?
Speaker 1:we?
Speaker 2:yes, yeah, I'm sure we have safe house is the spy themed restaurant where you have to. You go in through a secret side door, through the, through an entryway, and then somebody says, as you walk in they go, hello, spies. And they're like do you know the secret password? And if you don't know the secret password, they humiliate you basically. And then the door opens and you find out you've been on camera for the whole restaurant to watch you do the chicken dance or do some strange thing. If you know the password which I do know the password I'm never telling anybody you can just walk in. You can walk in and leave your friends there at the door and you get to watch them on the screen humiliate themselves. Anyway, you go through the place and it's all like James Bond themed and there's actually kind of a scavenger hunt inside the restaurant that helps you figure out what the password is. So next time when you go you'll actually know the password.
Speaker 1:So they still don't tell you the password, even if you get it wrong. No, you have to figure it out.
Speaker 2:It's kind of a scavenger hunt and it's very famous in the geocaching world because this is a very favorite geocache, because there's a geocache inside the restaurant, behind the bar, and you have to ask where you'll see it. It's an ammo can right behind the bar.
Speaker 1:So it's very famous for that.
Speaker 2:Nice Safe house in Milwaukee. For that nice safe house in milwaukee safe house, yeah, you gotta go. And then one more that I've never been to, the. Have you heard of this place, the casa bonita have?
Speaker 1:you heard of this place no when I read this, I thought to myself you're, you're not, you're outside the us now, but no, you're still in in denver colorado.
Speaker 2:It's a. It's a mexican restaurant. I've never been there. I've heard about it. I'm gonna. I just want to read you the description, because, if all this is true, this is amazing. The Casa Bonita in Denver is full of cliff divers. There's cliff divers in it, neon pink stucco I don't know how to say that word. I don't know that word. We'll skip it. Sopapillars, sopapillars. It is a legendary place that South Park creators decided an episode to it, created an episode towards it. Every reservation comes with a chance to interact with balloon artists, face painters and roaming mass characters. One of them is named man Bear Pig. Anyway, this place is experience, uh, experience. There's an arcade. There's black bart's cave, there's a pirate hangout, there's skeleton, animatronic scorpions and other jump scares wow, it's almost like a theater restaurant sort of style.
Speaker 2:Yeah, will you be going through through Denver when you drive back to get your car? No, you could no no, I'm going South.
Speaker 1:It's too cold this time of year. No, thank you.
Speaker 2:Oh, come on.
Speaker 1:I'm no Minnesota and I'm no Minnesota. So there you go. I hope we answered your your question, jamie, and again, jamie and again, thank you very much for reaching out. We're going to move on Josh to Jerry. Is it Jerry Neese? Am I getting that?
Speaker 2:wrong. All right, jerry Neese. Jerry Neese and his geocaching name is G-Neese.
Speaker 1:G-Neese. That's very nice. Jerry says actual trip planning that you do. So how do we actually plan our trips? What apps software do you use, uh, and what makes you visit those places that people are just so damn proud of? So he's even led you into into your local line too. So there you go. So he's talking about apps and and visits, like places we visit and how we decide that we're going to do trip planning.
Speaker 2:So, craig, you're more of a road tripper than I am. You're on the road a lot more you have. You have some good ones here. I don't have as many as you, so take it away well for me it's more, as you said before, it's more about the road trips.
Speaker 1:I mean, I do do some airfare like flights as well, but road tripping for me, I really, really enjoyed so road trips being staying on the road and inside a vehicle and you can do, obviously, your motels and hotels etc on the on the way, but I use the three apps I'm going to use is the Road Trippers app. Road Trippers app and all these links are going to be in the description Josh iOverlander and Harvest Hosts. Now, what these do? Road Trippers app talks about planning a route for you to go. It highlights significant sites and landmarks along a particular route that you want to go. So this isn't geocaching, Josh. This has got nothing to do with geolocation-based games at all. This is literally a road tripping app that you can go.
Speaker 1:I want to go from Phoenix to you know, New Jersey or New York City, and it will plan a trip for you, the best route. You can move the plan the trip around. You can also do a radius along that say. For instance, you know 50 miles each side of that road. You see what's along that road as well. So if you want to jut into little towns here and there, if you like something new, uh, then you can do that too. So road trippers app app is the one that I always use um yes, can I?
Speaker 2:I have a question can you, are there filters where you can like have roadside attraction filters so it shows you that kind of stuff? Or like exactly right, kind of restaurants and yep, okay, yep, it has all that so you're talking about.
Speaker 1:It talks about restaurants. It talks about roadside attractions. It talks about museums. There's even a museum filter in there as well. Um, there's, there's like the top 100 things to see, like as rated by yelp, you know, and things like that too, in the us. So if you want to just go in there, go okay, I want to see the top 10 things that people want to see in the us and take me to it. It'll show you the route to the top 10 things in the us to see.
Speaker 2:So is it a free app or is it? Is it a paid app or is it like free? With it okay, so you can get a premium version of it exactly right.
Speaker 1:and the premium version, then you can actually like, do a lot more with. It's more about the filtering with the premium version, whereas the non-premium, you can't really filter out all the little bits and pieces. So if you don't want any museums at all, if you don't want dump sites there's even dump sites there for real on-the-road van lifers too Nice. Yeah there's things like that too.
Speaker 2:So that's, really cool.
Speaker 1:The other one is iOverlander, and this one is a community-based app. Do you know what that means when it's a community-based?
Speaker 2:app, does it mean that it was created by the community?
Speaker 1:It was created by a person, obviously, but then the community is the one that updates the app, and this is all about locations in which possible overnight stays are allowed, also dump stations, water and electric, where you can get water and electric from as well. So this is predominantly now for van lifers, for RVers, that sort of stuff as well. So iOverlander it is a free app as well, this one, but again, because it's community-based in terms of the community, are the ones that said, oh, I stayed here for one night and there was no problems. It doesn't mean that you can rely upon that. You know 100, because you know things can change all of a sudden. There might be a sign up saying no overnight parking, that sort of thing too. So I overlander is that one, and the last one I have is harvest host.
Speaker 1:Now, this one would's going to tempt you, josh the harvest host. This is a subscription-based one. So this one you do have to pay for, but it's well worth it because you pay I think it's like a hundred dollars a year for this particular one and this one gives you all the locations that you can stay at overnight for free. Now we're talking about things like farms. Different people open their farms for they become a hosts. You see different campgrounds, different golf courses, breweries, wineries all these places you can stay overnight for free. You just need to have, obviously, the subscription, so really $100,. You're going to pay for that in three nights of these accommodations.
Speaker 2:So it's like couch surfing, but for outside RV.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's not just a couch, it's not like we just have a couch, it's like we have a field you can park your car in, or we can exactly, or a parking lot exactly yeah so, harvest host I.
Speaker 1:I think it's a fantastic idea. But at the same time, when you're there, you're gonna really partake in whatever's there in terms of it's. If you're at a winery or brewery, you're gonna go and have a few beers, that sort of thing too. So it does rely upon that too. Or if you're at a golf course, you can go and maybe have some dinner or a meal inside the golf course. So you're still patron the actual location, but you'd do that anyway, sort of thing. So, harvest Host Josh.
Speaker 2:They're my three top three for road tripping, uh, throughout the us. So those are really good. Those are really good. I'm going to bring up one that we've brought up on this podcast before, because it's really amazing and people don't, I don't think, take advantage of it. No matter what, if you know you're going to a town no, let's say Milwaukee, wisconsin that's a big city I'm going to be there for three days. I'm going to be there three days. Give me a fun adventure Plan. A fun adventure for me every day, or two fun adventures. I want to eat at some of the best places that are great for families to visit, and I would like to leave on this day and arrive on this day, and you put the prompts in and it will create a whole plan, an itinerary for you for wherever you are.
Speaker 1:That's one of the best things I've heard. I've heard you do it first. You did it for your trip up north as well, with you and the Reester. Yeah, I remember you saying that and after that I thought what a great way to. Some people are a little bit on the edge, on the fence, when it comes to AI stuff, but that, josh, there is a perfect example of what ChatGPT can do for you. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like actually for new trip planning. That's a great idea. I love it. It was so. It was so interesting because, yeah, I last time I did that, I did grand marais, which is like a town of like 5 000 people, and when the two restaurants it picked were the two top rated uh restaurants on google, like yeah, I double checked. I was like how good are these places?
Speaker 1:yeah chat.
Speaker 2:Gpt picked the best place it's. It knew it's just, it's unbelievable and it's just a great tool um, so it really um, we've talked about on the last podcast, adventure labs. They are tours. They will show you cool places or neat things that other people don't know about. I don't have to go into further detail, but that's an app. And then, uh, cash tour or cash oh yeah, which is basically like road trippers for geocaching yes, basically yeah, and if you don't know anything about it.
Speaker 2:Basically, the coolest thing I can do is, if there's a certain amount of uh, if you have a list of caches from on a route, for example, or in a circle, for example, or if you're in a town like I've used this for geo tours I I put in all the caches for the town and then it will create a, a logical route, because sometimes you don't know like what, what order should I order? Should I do them in? And it will create a logical route to complete the geo tour yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 1:Makes sense. I've seen, I've seen cash tour for a few years now it's been on my radar but I've never really been able to. To me it's a bit I don't know clunky how it works.
Speaker 2:There's a learning curve.
Speaker 1:There's an app for it too.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things where you're best to do your planning on a desktop and then when you actually do the trip, you can use the app, so they kind of talk to each other. Yeah, that makes sense that you can use the app.
Speaker 1:So they kind of talk to each other Yep, yep, that makes sense. That makes sense. Just log in with your same login account. That makes sense Very good, there you go.
Speaker 1:We hope we've we've answered your question there, jerry. Next one Josh comes from Sims quest. So Sims quest and they are have been obsessed with the Thomas Dambo trolls ever since they did the ones in Minnesota this fall and they would love to hear or chat more about the Thomas Dambo Trolls. Now all I can say about this, and it'll be quick, and that is I did the ones with you in Kentucky and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I thought they were fantastic. They're great photo opportunities and in some cases there's good adventure labs on each one as well. There was a couple of caches, but the caches themselves weren't on the trolls, they were just sort of on the path or just off the path as you're going from one troll to the next. But anyway, that's the only ones I've done in kentucky. Thoroughly enjoyed them, josh. Yes, what can you tell us more about these?
Speaker 2:yes, so if you don't know, we've talked about the tambo thomas dambo trolls before. I sim quest. I have also done the Minnesota ones and I've done the Kentucky ones as well, and they're created by a man named Thomas Dambo. He's an artist from Denmark and he's created these trolls made out of recycled mainly recycled wood and they all have like a similar look. It's like when you look at them, they all kind of are like the same species of troll. Basically, and, if you're curious, I did a little bit of research on this if you're curious about seeking out more of these trolls, get this craig there. I have the official number there are currently 153 of these trolls on the planet now 153 and if you go to troll mapcom, it basically like it's really cool, craig.
Speaker 2:It's like a geocaching thing for the trolls. Oh really, you log in, there's a map and the map of the world has X's all over it. You click on it and then it shows you the troll in that area and then it says you can check, I completed this troll. And it keeps track of how many trolls you found.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. That's really cool. I like it.
Speaker 2:I'm sure there are people that are like I want to get all 153. There is.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's people out there like myself, Josh, who need to go to every single Bucky's gas station in the US. I'll let you know. I've got five more to go, but anyway.
Speaker 2:Wow. So that's cool. There's a trollmapcom and you can find them all there and kind of look at pictures of them. And then Thomas Dambo put together a really fancy book. It's called Trash Trolls and Treasure Hunts. It's the story of his first 100 trolls. And get this. It is a 440-page filled with photos of of the creation of these trolls and the stories behind them. And, uh, it's. It's not a cheap book. It's about 70 dollars. But if you're really like you're loving and really into these trolls, it would be a very cool like um coffee table.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say coffee table book yeah, exactly so perfect coffee table book yeah, right, and here's the thing.
Speaker 2:Here's another thing. I learned. What's that?
Speaker 1:I'm sorry I was gonna say, sit it right next to your, your comic book.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, right um, what is it? There's another thing I wanted to say. Um, I lost it. It just left my brain.
Speaker 1:It's gone, that's all right that's all right, we may get back to it. Um, all right next time we're moving on is to the man himself, timothy larson, also known as minnesota boy, minnesota boy, minnesota boy so I always have to say it three times, I don't know why. Anyway, tim, if you should know tim by now, we talk about him a lot on this on the show. He's a very good friend of both of ours, uh as well, and we have traveled with him a fair bit. But his question was how about your travel tips, both for road tripping and a flying getaway, like airport likes and dislikes, luggage tips, technology to make things easier, apps and gear. So maybe we're going to talk more now about, like the airport and luggage sort of thing, apart from just the road tripping stuff. So I do have tips on road trips, like actual tips of how to do road trips, rather than the apps now. But yeah, what do you think, josh?
Speaker 2:Well, this could be a whole episode in itself. I know We'll try to move carefully, so I'm going to go through really quickly through my road trip stuff. Okay, and you kind of alluded to this too as well, as I see on your notes here I think the best road trips are those that are flexible, to stop and see something cool, that you're not in a rush. I think a lot of people are like I got to get to my destination and my view of a road trip is like, yeah, the destination is something, but it's also the road trip, is a part of the trip. So to be okay to see, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. That's where they make duct tape. Let's stop.
Speaker 1:What Josh is alluding to now is a time when, yeah, you and I we traveled literally from an airport and we were traveling through past to another location and, yeah, we saw a sign on the road saying the home of the duct tape and you got all excited about your duct tape, you went quackers over that duct tape, but anyway, yeah, there's an episode about that.
Speaker 2:If you want to go back, it's our Cincinnati episode, or no?
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, cleveland, it's our Cleveland episode Cleveland Rocks episode Cleveland.
Speaker 2:Rocks. Yep, that's it. No-transcript. If you walk into a hotel and say I need a room, you're gonna get charged like the full, full, full price.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but if you're going on a road trip in a weekday, there's so many hotels that just have empty rooms yeah so hotel tonight's uh helps you find the hotel rooms that are just empty and it's with like a severe discount, because it would just sit empty otherwise. So yeah, the hotel, rather get your 50 dollars than have their room be be closed or have or have their empty empty room, yes exactly, it's a hotel tonight.
Speaker 1:That's a great tip, josh. I love that I hadn't heard that one before. So there you go.
Speaker 2:Another one I'll just go quickly through. Mine is Turo, which is basically the Airbnb of a car rental.
Speaker 2:Higher cars, Higher cars yeah, so basically, instead of doing a rental car, you basically rent your car from another human being, just another person that has their car available. And here's the thing I like about it it's affordable A but B. You don't have to wait in line Like how annoying is it to wait in line to get your car and then have them try to upsell you and like add this is like you just get off the plane and they give you a little scavenger hunt to get to the car, and they give you a little scavenger hunt to find the key and and you're, you're off.
Speaker 1:And it's very yeah. Oh, I was going to say what they do as well. Some sometimes they'll actually drive up to your, where your location, and the owner will get out of the car and they'll have another person behind them to pick the owner up and so they literally, you know, drive the car to you so you can just jump straight in the car. That happened with us of one of ours, josh. That, uh, that we did one time as well, when you first introduced me to two rows.
Speaker 2:So, yes, there you go, yeah that was a good one, so here's another one. This is kind of an obvious one podcasts, road trips. Sometimes road trips get really long and I find when there's things that are stimulating my brain, it seems like the the driving goes much faster than just listening to music. Here's a good tip. So I travel a lot for work and this is one I really do is that's bring your own pillow. You don't know, when you rent that hotel room or have, you don't know what kind of pillow you're going to have, and that's the one thing you for sleeping that you can keep consistent. You're not going to bring like a mattress, probably, and you're not going to bring a mattress probably, and you're not going to bring your blankets and stuff, but the one thing that can really impact your sleep is having that consistent pillow.
Speaker 1:Yes, if you can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I've brought my pillow on many road trips. Last one is I believe this is kind of an opinion I believe rest stops are better than gas stations oh, oh for, for relaxing, or for for using the restroom, oh, really using the facilities, because when you go into a gas station, you a lot of times there's just one stall and you have to wait till they get out. And, let's be be honest, like gas stations often, unless it's a Bucky's- unless it's a Bucky's.
Speaker 2:Unless it's a Bucky's it's not very clean and so rest stops, they're designed for you to get in and get out. You're not tempted to buy a bunch of food that's overpriced, exactly, and I just like oh, let's wait for the rest stops because we can do our business and keep going, yeah.
Speaker 1:Those are mine. Those are mine, but also as well, josh, leaning on that one too. With the rest stops, you'll find in most cases, going back to our games, that we play in every single rest stop that I've been to across the state so far, there's been Munzees and Jukashes alike. So, if you want to, I stop at a rest stop and I want to get out and do like a 15-minute walk clear the air, clear the brain, wake up again or whatever you need to do and I can literally walk around the rest stop and collect all the monsies, grab the one or two caches that are in there as well. So, yeah, exactly right. So that's perfect, absolutely perfect, mate. I had the same sort of thing for road tripping, and that is if you've got got a plan, it's good, but still be flexible. So I said exactly the same thing. I also said and this is my uh safety coming out of me know your driving limits and never drive tired or fatigued.
Speaker 2:So if you are very smart that's what.
Speaker 1:That's where the rest stops come in handy, and a clutch for that sort of stuff too. Um, and then obviously, all the apps that I did with uh, with jerry. So that was my road trips. Now, josh, are we going to go to the airports and luggage?
Speaker 2:Yes, this is fun.
Speaker 1:I love this stuff Do you want me to go first? Do you want to? Yeah, you can go first. Okay.
Speaker 2:Cause a couple a couple. We might have some disagreements on some of these.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2:I roll all my clothing to maximize space in my luggage. I roll my jeans, I roll my t-shirts, I roll my underwear. I make my clothing as small as possible to fit as much clothes as I possibly can, even pants. So if you're wondering how do you do that, josh, I literally. There's tutorials on YouTube, of course there is of how to roll t-shirts, roll jeans and even tuck them in so they just they stay rolled. Yeah, it's, it's, it's clutch, did you?
Speaker 1:did you read my notes before you did yours? Because I said, when packing, when packing clothes, I like to roll each of the item individually.
Speaker 1:It saves the wrinkles, you can pack more in and it's easy to see. But the thing is, it's easy as well to see what you have without getting all the other clothes out too. So you literally you open up your little suitcase or you open up your backpack. What do you have? And you can see the shirt, you can see the shorts, you can see your clothing there, or and you just literally grab out the roll. So yeah, exactly see I'll have the same, just saying yeah, great alike.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. Another one is I always bring a garbage bag. Especially if my trip is for a week, I bring a garbage bag so I can separate my dirty clothes from my clean clothes. Now, a lot of luggage have automatic separators anyway, but there's just something about having that garbage bag barrier so your dirty clothes don't infect your clean clothes.
Speaker 1:Especially the underwear. Let's be honest, people, especially the underwear. You don't want the underwear touching.
Speaker 2:Separate, separate, separate separate.
Speaker 1:Undies and socks. Yeah, yeah, no, I do the same thing, josh, and otherwise though, as well. Most if you're staying in hotels most hotels do have I use the laundry bag. Sometimes they have a laundry bag for that, so I'll utilize the laundry bag. I won't send it to their laundry. It's way too expensive. I'll use that as the garbage bag with all my other uh, dirty clothes as well.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, good tip, good tip. Next up you have um. My next tip is this is a funny one. I told some people at work this. They were like what so when, when you pack for trips, especially if they're a week or longer, yeah, this might be just a problem in my house we have we have typically sometimes three men that live in my house and we do all the laundry together and we all have the same socks and it's so hard to find like enough matching socks.
Speaker 2:Do you like seven pair and you're like searching everywhere? I just, I just cut that all, I just go to target and I buy a pack of 10, a pack of 10 of socks, and I just put it in my bag done done.
Speaker 1:You don't even roll them up, you just leave them in the pack and ready to go, exactly when I did you what stock I did that I, I literally just bought a pack of socks. Easy, easy Done.
Speaker 2:It makes sense. It's silly, but it helps me.
Speaker 1:What am I going to do Not as hard when you? I was going to say not as hard for me, though, when I literally do all my own laundry by myself together and then separates everything, and I have my own little cupboard.
Speaker 2:So not as hard for some. But anyway, what's your next one, josh? Okay, so this is where we might have a little bit of disagreement. If you're not in a hurry, just check your bag. Just check it, because the airport experience is so much less stressful and you don't have to carry as much. I love just when I'm carrying a backpack and I don't have to carry as much. I love.
Speaker 2:I love just when I'm carrying a backpack and I don't have to worry about it, I don't have to worry about the liquids and I don't have to worry about them going through all my luggage and through security. So if, yeah, even if you have just to carry on bags sometimes I just check it, just just to make it more simple for me but, but, but, but, but. I make sure I have one set of clothes in my backpack just in case, just in case, just in case they lose my luggage.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Well, I'll go on and say this as well, josh, um, and that is, if you're, if you're sure or not sure in regards to checking, or if, if the airline itself will charge you, for instance, to check a bag, and you've only got something the size of a carry-on, then literally use it as a carry-on, but then they'll ask you when you're actually at the gate, josh, they normally ask you oh, if you want something to check for free, you can check it here at the gate, and you can then check it at the gate for free.
Speaker 1:It doesn't cost you anything at all. So there's a handy tip for those people who want to save some money. So, against these airlines.
Speaker 2:So there you go and that's well, and that's not an issue for me, because I have the delta american express card, so I get all my check bags free. So that's nice. Let's see what's. Another one, what's? I have a lot for this. You do have a lot for this. Why rush to get? Why rush to get on the plane? So when you're boarding the plane, even though they call your number or like what do they call it? Craig, your zone.
Speaker 1:They call your zone.
Speaker 2:You're going to be sitting on the plane as long. You know what I mean. As long anyway. Why would you want to spend more time, especially if you don't have a carry-on bag, right? Because I know people are worried like, oh, you don't have a carry-on bag right? Because I know people are worried like, oh, there won't be enough carry-on space above. I know that's one of the reasons, but if that's not a big deal to you, just like chill. Like, just chill and just hop on that, be one of the last people. Your seat is reserved, unless you're Southwest, by the way.
Speaker 1:Your seat is reserved Like why are you rushing?
Speaker 2:Why west, by the way, but your seat is reserved like why are you rushing? Why are you rushing to get?
Speaker 1:on the plane. See, this is where we do disagree, josh, because I'm one of those people that I have to be like in the first of the line, or very close to the first of the line, even though at the moment, with all my status as well, I'm normally in group number one, um, and when I'm traveling with my wife, I'm actually in the pre-boarding group before group number one too. So, yeah, because she's the uh, she's got the 1k status.
Speaker 2:So with that, see, craig, though that's different, because the moment you get on the plane, in in a more priority thing, your, your. The experience has gotten better. Right, yeah, it's better than standing outside, yes, but if you're in coach and you're in, have a middle seat in the back, that's not. That's not better. So it's like what's better. So I think people, why are you such a rush to get, um, get on the plane and then another one? Why are you this is a bit more of a pet peeve why are you in such a rush to get off the plane when, when people are like, clearly everybody in front of you has to get off first? It's so annoying this is my pet peeve it's so annoying when people, the plane pulls up to the gate and everybody stands up. What I'm like I want to look at those people and I'm like where are you going?
Speaker 2:There's nowhere to go.
Speaker 1:Josh, I love it. I love it as well when you hear that ding, that the uh, that they've arrived at the gate and you can take your your seatbelts off. You hear the ding and then, within a split second, you hear the click, click, click, click. Everyone's there.
Speaker 2:I'm clicking their seatbelts and everyone's like where are you going? Where are you going? You can't go anywhere. And then they just stand there, and they're literally standing there for 20 minutes. I'm like what?
Speaker 1:like just be pulling their bags out, knocking people in their head for their bags. So there you go. Look, this has turned into josh's whinge fest this.
Speaker 2:This was a yeah, that was a rant. Okay, a couple other things. The turtle neck pillow do you know about turtles neck pillow?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's like the, the pillow that goes around your neck when you sleep yeah, but it's more like a neck brace it looks like a neck brace. Yeah, it looks ridiculous.
Speaker 2:It's not one of those foamy ones, but people wear it the wrong direction, though, josh.
Speaker 1:You're not supposed to wear it like from one side around the back and to the other side. You're supposed to wear it around the front of your neck and have the back of your neck free, because then you can actually sit back in the seat. People wear it around the back of their neck and literally leave it there and your head's bobbing forward the whole time. You're not supposed to have your head bobbing forward, so you're actually supposed to turn it around and have it like choking your neck rather than behind your neck?
Speaker 2:You're thinking of something different. You're thinking of an actual pillow, the turtle. It's spelled T-R-T-L, I believe it's a brand and it's more of like a brace, where it's like a wrap around your neck, and then there's like a little plastic piece and it just holds your neck up. It just holds your neck up.
Speaker 1:So you're not.
Speaker 2:But it's way. No, it's Craig, there's study. It's way better than a neck pillow where it just holds, holds your neck in place and you can literally just relax so you don't have moments where your like neck is flop flopping all over anyway tr look it up.
Speaker 2:I have one. It looks kind of ridiculous when you wear it. It looks ridiculous when you wear it, but it's so much more comfortable than any neck pillow I've ever used. You're not, so it's not actually ridiculous when you wear it, but it's so much more comfortable than any neck pillow I've ever used.
Speaker 1:So it's not actually a pillow. You're not going to get embarrassed when you're asleep. People Like, let's be honest. If you're having a good nap and good sleep. You're not going to get embarrassed by it.
Speaker 2:So there you go. Very cool, what else have you got? How much time? Yeah, we'll keep it going.
Speaker 1:Are you still with us? We've only got a few more to go. We've got quite a few to go, so let's keep it rolling.
Speaker 2:All right. When I get home from a trip, I unpack right away and I put everything in the washer right away. I don't let that just sit forever. I just get that out of the way. And then, Craig, you turn me on to this If you fly more than four, four or more I'm going to say four or more times a year, get pre-check. What's the name of our security administration?
Speaker 1:Blah, blah, blah. Pre-check. Oh, you mean the airport pre-check stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, airport, but what is it?
Speaker 1:called. I can't think now anymore. I know it's too late for us tonight josh.
Speaker 2:Anyway, it's 80 for three years 80, but that's nothing. To be able to go into the line where you don't have to take off your shoes and you don't have to worry about about your liquids as much, it's fantastic yep, yep, exactly, exactly, it makes sense.
Speaker 1:It absolutely makes sense. I've had that for for a few years now too, and yeah, it took me longer to get it than than you or anyone else, because of my status, my actual immigration status. I was a green card holder, not a citizen, so it took me over six months to actually get approved for that, but anyway, um it's tsa tsa pre-check there you go.
Speaker 2:I knew whether to come back here eventually if you go.
Speaker 1:I knew it would come back to you eventually If we keep talking about it. It'd come back to you, mate. I've only got a couple. When it comes to airport and luggage, I'm the opposite. I say, if you can only have carry-on, because it saves you time in the back end as well, so you're not hanging around that belt and waiting for your actual luggage to come up, that's if you're. I also said as well. It never actually hurts to ask at the gate for an upgrade. Josh, have you?
Speaker 2:ever done that. You're at the gate. I have, yeah, I have tried, You've got to check.
Speaker 1:You've got to check first. You've got to check first of all the open seats, making sure, and then go up and just say look, any chance of an upgrade.
Speaker 2:Even an upgrade could be just to an aisle seat or a window seat rather than a center seat, let could be just to an aisle seat or a window seat rather than a center seat, like, let's be honest, people, it doesn't have to be upgrade to first class.
Speaker 1:We're talking upgrading your seat in general. You know, bigger leg room when it comes to what we call the exit rows and stuff like that too. So there you go. And the other thing I have I've got the packing roll your clothes, exactly the same as you, but I also put as well if you have, you can actually use vacuum packs to get the travel ones, the vacuum packs, to actually seal your clothes and it shrinks them down, it takes out all the air. But get the ones, the travel ones, where you can use it as a roll and you don't need a vacuum cleaner for it, basically. So there you go.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:They're mine, they're mine. So there you go. I hope Tim's happy with those. We're going to move on to the next one. Josh, it's from beth and luke warns from fam of 5w and they ask the pros and cons of guided tours. She's they're heading to washington dc, for example, and there's so much to see. Yeah, he's doing a guided tour worth the value. So, again, a great question.
Speaker 2:Thank you, beth and luke yes, this is a great question because I have toured washington dc and I have used a tour guide, but you don't have to commit to like the full deal where you know there's. I think there's some places where you can like get a tour guide for several days. I honestly don't recommend that. When I went, craig, to Washington DC, I did a Segway tour, oh yes, and the reason it was so awesome was because it was about, I'd say, about two hours, three hours long. If you're doing Washington DC, there is so much walking, so much walking. So the very first thing you do, do you take the segway tour. First of all, riding in segways is a, it's a blast, that's so fun, it's fun just like cruising around in them.
Speaker 2:They go like faster than you think, but you you go to all the spots in the washington mall because it's very long all the way from the, from the Lincoln Memorial, all the way to the Capitol Building and everything in between. You get to see all those things and then what it does is that gives you a sense of kind of where you are and it gives you it kind of gives you a lay of the land and then, once you have that lay of the land, you know what you're going to want to go back to later and to spend spend more time at. So I'm a fan of tours, but I'm a fan of like shorter, shorter half half day tours, two hour tours, um, because I think then you can get a lay of the land and then you have the luxury to have freedom to do some of the things that you want to maybe dig in deeper. That's my big high level tip with washington dc yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1:um, I've also got as well, cause when I did uh DC the very first time I came across, cause again, Josh, I thought I had all these things on my list to do in 2018 because I thought I'm never going to be back in the U S again, and so and so yeah, I know I'm going to to me.
Speaker 1:Here we go, um, but I know, unbeknownst to me, here we go, but I did. I actually let geocaching guide me in DC, so I did my route and I hired a bike, like an actual push bike itself, and so I did the bike. So, not the Segway, but the same as thing. I didn't want to walk. It's a lot of walking, there's miles and miles of walking, and so, yeah, I did the bike and just went literally from virtual to virtual to virtual geocaching and learned myself that way in regards to the history and the development and everything else, in regards to the statues and the monuments and everything there is about DC. And also, if you're going to DC, don't forget the webcam cache too. There's a webcam cache in DC as well. So one of my favorite types. So there you go. That's what I did in DC.
Speaker 2:Joshc, josh, I let jake hashing be my guide. Yeah, I actually I did too. It's kind of fun because the people that were on my segue tour I introduced them. They're like what are you doing?
Speaker 2:and as I was trying to get information off of you know certain stuff for those virtuals, because those are yeah, those are some pretty famous virtuals, and I think another thing with tour guides that I like is that it forces you to slow down and you will learn things that you wouldn't learn otherwise. So I really like that with a tour guide, sometimes you don't stop and be like, oh, why is this thing significant? And a lot of times, tour guides will summarize whatever is on the long, long plaque and you're like I don't want to read all this. So the the tour guide will be like this is why this is what this is and this is why it's important yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:I had a guide, josh. I recently did, uh, when I was in in in london as well. We I enjoyed the river cruise, and so there was a river cruise going all the way through london and there was a. It was a guide on the river cruise, and what the guide did? Again the same sort of thing, that is, he was telling us about what was what was so important about that. What was so important about that?
Speaker 1:You know, like london bridge versus tower bridge, how they're two totally different things and then they tell you fun facts, like hidden in information in terms of dates and times, but also funny stories to go along with the locations as well, like are you ready for this? So if you don't know, london Bridge is basically just the plain straight bridge after the Tower Bridge. You know the Tower Bridge, josh, with the two big towers it opens up. That's actually the Tower Bridge. That's not London Bridge. London Bridge is just literally a plain concrete bridge right next to it. No one even looks at. You know, no one takes photos of london bridge, right?
Speaker 1:So what happened was they were replacing. This is going back um 20 or 30 years ago. They were replacing london bridge and in doing so, they were literally cutting out the bridge. And they said and they put it on auction for the bridge to be sold. An american brought the london bridge for himself to say I'm gonna buy london bridge. He bought it for a few million dollars and they shipped it to to the us and it's here somewhere in the us so there's london bridge in the us.
Speaker 1:But when he got it he went hang on is this london bridge? Because he was confused.
Speaker 2:He thought he was buying tower bridge, not london bridge so he was very disappointed if he would have taken it, if he would have had a tour guide, he would have known that he would have known.
Speaker 1:Exactly, right, exactly. And that's my point with the, with tour guys, they can make it a lot more interesting, a lot more fun, and you can have that like it has hidden stories that you would never know and that they stick with you. Those stories stick with you then, for afterwards as well. So, yes, yes, I enjoyed that one too. What other information do you have? Yeah, Josh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a couple other things about Washington DC. Don't skip the museums, the Smithsonian museums. They're all free and they're amazing, so don't skip those. That's just like a great opportunity to not have to spend any money and just have a really fun experience. Craig, I don't know if you've ever attempted this. I attempted to actually park a car in Dc. It was the worst experience I've ever had trying to park a car. Yeah, there's no park.
Speaker 1:There's no parking, unless you like, work there right, well, are you ready for my little quick story? Then, when I was coming through and I wanted to do the webcam cache, the webcam itself is out over like a roundabout area and looks over a roundabout area. So I I tried for nearly 15 minutes trying to find parking anywhere near a roundabout area and looks over a roundabout area. So I I tried for nearly 15 minutes trying to find parking anywhere near the roundabout, couldn't find it all. In the end, josh, I put my big magnetic sign see my shell sign on the back of the van that I had at the time and as I drove around, I had my, my camera, my phone, ready. As I drove around up, I waved out with my hand and then took a screenshot of the back of my van with see my shelves on there and my hand, I went yep, that's the webcam done that's so smart that's great.
Speaker 1:So I hear you when you say that parking in dc is the worst.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I had to park. So so far, I, if I could do it over again, I would have taken a bus in there or I would have taken an uber, uber. Yeah, do do not drive, do not rent a car and think that you're going to find parking because you're not, or you're going to pay a lot of money to reserve a spot. Exactly. And then one more tip Washington DC for me is this is a unique opportunity to possibly meet your local, your state's congressperson or state representatives, your state's congressperson or state representatives. You can actually go to the, to the website, and set up um a meeting where you could schedule um, where you get to see the offices of where the rep you know, the congress people or the state reps like work in the, in the capitol building or wherever they work. And, uh, and if they're there, um, they're always willing to like talk to you and I just think it's kind of a cool thing.
Speaker 2:I think it's cool for kids to realize like, hey, these people represent us on a national level, these people that live in our state.
Speaker 1:So I think that's kind of cool. And if you're not from, if you're outside the US and you're visiting the US and you're visiting DC, you can also visit Josh as well and I used our good game of munzee to do mine, and that is, you can visit the residence of your, your country's um uh delegate as well. So I went to the australian residency um in in dc and obviously it's quite a nice residency, but the australian one had the australian flag at one side, the american flag at the other. It had like a. It had a big, a big koala, like a concrete koala, on top of the porch area. It had a kangaroo and an emu as well in the in the garden areas that you could actually take a photo of, and stuff too, which is really really cool.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, have a look around people. If you're from outside the us, yeah, find your delegates uh residency and, yeah, just be a stalker a little bit. They're happy with it. You know that's. They do it all the time, obviously. So, yeah, take those photos and get that memory. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Craig, I think we might. We might Well, no, no Well.
Speaker 1:I think we're going to end it there. We're going to do a part two next time. We'll do a part two next time, Josh.
Speaker 2:How does that sound? Because I do have a little bit more information for you. Before we, what? Before we close down, what are you?
Speaker 1:talking about more information, exactly, so I'll quickly say, though, that, uh, so, allison bertman, uh, we're going to come back to you for your question. We're going to come back as well to, uh one, michael tula as well, we're going to come back to you. We're going to come back to you, buddy, we're going to come back to Andy Zook as well, and we're going to come back and answer their questions in the next episode of Treasures of Our Town. Yes, josh.
Speaker 2:And if you are a patron, get your question in, because those are just three. We're going to have time for probably five questions, Five questions.
Speaker 1:So there's two more.
Speaker 2:So we'll put another post in the Patreon feed and patrons get in there. If you have another thing you want us to talk about, we'll talk about it two weeks from now.
Speaker 1:Sounds perfect, sounds perfect. But before we do and before we close that, josh, I've got some surprise information that you don't know about and I'm going to get your reaction live on air as we speak, and I'm going to get your reaction live on air as we speak. I'm nervous, I know you are, but one of our places that our podcast is on is called Good Pods. So you know how. You've got Apple Podcasts, you've got Spotify and there's different places that people can listen to the podcast on. One of the places is called Good Pods. That's the actual app. It's called Good Pods. Good Pods has reached out to us, josh, that you don't realize, and they've rated us in regards to the 2024 podcast ratings. We've got three ratings, josh. In the geocaching chart for 2024, Treasures of Our Town is rated number one. What there you go? One. What there you go? In in outdoor adventures for 2024, the treasures of our town is rated number one. What in in road tripping adventures in 2024, treasures of our town is rated number three. So there you go, mate there you go.
Speaker 1:We're still on the podium one, one and three, and we're road trips podcast, road tripping podcast. There are two ahead of us on the road tripping podcast. It's called Greetings from Somewhere, it's a travel show, and have Monster Will Travel is another travel show. So they're the two ahead of us, josh, for road tripping podcast. So we're not just a geocaching podcast, josh.
Speaker 2:That's really cool. We are a travel podcast. So there you go, mate we should have those two other podcasts on our show and we should go on their show that sounds like a good idea. We can have a friendly competition who 2025? Where we can take our throne as the road tripping podcast that's really cool. I don't know how, how they calculate that. I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't know how that happens, but uh, no I'll take it just in regards to the road tripping podcast. It says, uh, the best road tripping podcast from millions of podcasts available on the good pods platform and ranked by listeners, ratings, comments, subscriptions and shares. So that's how they do it, that's how they okay.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you I think that has to do with the people that are listening to this, because they must have shared it, they must have exactly um listened um so thank you, thank you. You know what, when I heard that news, craig, you know what it makes me really just like proud, and you know I'm proud of my talent, but I'm really proud of this podcast, and you know what? That's a rare thing these days. That's a damn rare thing these days.
Speaker 1:That's very clever, because you didn't know what was coming up and you got it nice and nice. I like it, I like it. I like it Very cool, very cool. All right, don't forget, josh, if people want to become a patron as well, to jump in now and ask us some of these questions. What do they have?
Speaker 2:to do. This is the perfect time to jump in, because we are listening to you. We are creating this content just for you. You have a question, you have a need, you want us to talk about something? We'll talk about it, but only we'll only take your advice if you're one of our patrons.
Speaker 2:So if you'd like to become a patron, you can support us to help us to continue to be apparently now an award-winning podcast. Yes, and you'll keep it free no commercials. So please consider joining us on our patreon, at patreoncom. Black backslash treasures of our town and josh.
Speaker 1:How else can people contact us if they wish to contact us?
Speaker 2:Feel free to reach out to us at Treasures of Our Town podcast at gmailcom, or you can follow us on Facebook, instagram, x and YouTube.
Speaker 1:So that's it for our show today. Please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcasting app like GoodPod, and, as always, josh.
Speaker 2:Mere travels always lead you to the most unexpected and amazing hidden gems from around the world. See you next time, everybody.
Speaker 1:Bye-bye, bye-bye.
