Latest / Wander the World with Pippa Hudson / Wander the World: Camping gets a glow up with Trailpod Adventures

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Wander the World: Camping gets a glow up with Trailpod Adventures · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

0:00
Speaker 1: Right, it is time for us to wander the world,
0:02
Speaker 1: and today we are taking you back to the days
0:05
Speaker 1: when family holidays. We're all about camping, and I really
0:08
Speaker 1: love to hear from some of our listeners who are
0:11
Speaker 1: ardent campers about how you camp and what sort of
0:14
Speaker 1: level of luxury or absence of luxury you demand from
0:18
Speaker 1: the experience of camping, because for some people, camping is
0:21
Speaker 1: meant to be simple, and it's meant to be nothing
0:24
Speaker 1: more that a tent and maybe a thin rubber mattress
0:26
Speaker 1: and a pillow and a sleeping bag and getting yourself
0:29
Speaker 1: close to nature and as close to the experience of
0:32
Speaker 1: sleeping literally under the stars as you can safely get.
0:35
Speaker 1: For others, glamping is a thing, and a tend with
0:38
Speaker 1: a bed is a good way to camp, and gadgets
0:41
Speaker 1: and things to keep your milk cold and boil your
0:43
Speaker 1: coffee and keep your clothes dry are part of the
0:46
Speaker 1: camping experience. Different people camp in different ways. I'm aware
0:50
Speaker 1: of that, but I'd love to hear from those of
0:52
Speaker 1: you who are ardent campers where you love going, what
0:55
Speaker 1: you love about the experience of camping, what you consider
0:58
Speaker 1: essential to the camp experience. I'm thinking back to the
1:02
Speaker 1: first time I ever pitched my tent on my own
1:04
Speaker 1: at a school tent, and of course I did so
1:06
Speaker 1: sideways on a downhill slope and it rained in the night,
1:10
Speaker 1: and that was the muddiest camping experience of my life.
1:12
Speaker 1: But you know what, it was by far the most
1:14
Speaker 1: fun one I've ever had as well. Maybe for those
1:16
Speaker 1: of you listening, some of you listening, it might be
1:18
Speaker 1: about the memories of trying to start the fire with
1:20
Speaker 1: dad using wet wood. Maybe you are somebody who prefers
1:24
Speaker 1: a rooftop tent or a caravan or all the fittings
1:27
Speaker 1: and gadgets you can imagine. We're quite happy to talk
1:30
Speaker 1: to both of those kinds of camping today. But most
1:33
Speaker 1: importantly we want to encourage people to explore the love
1:36
Speaker 1: of camping and to talk about camping and road tripping
1:39
Speaker 1: and how it has evolved over the years. It's a
1:41
Speaker 1: huge pleasure to welcome to the show this afternoon Grant Macpherson,
1:44
Speaker 1: who is the co founder of Trail Pod Adventures. Now
1:47
Speaker 1: they're a local brand that started out with handcrafted teardrop
1:50
Speaker 1: caravans and have really grown into a real community for
1:54
Speaker 1: South Africans who do love the open road, and Grant,
1:56
Speaker 1: it's wonderful to have you joining us on one of
1:58
Speaker 1: the world today. Welcome to the show.
2:01
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, perperpose, very happy to be here.
2:03
Speaker 1: And I'm loving the background of your zoom your zoom
2:06
Speaker 1: background because I can see there are Bucky and oh
2:09
Speaker 1: a big four by four in the background with spare
2:11
Speaker 1: wheels and truly your gadgets on top of the car.
2:14
Speaker 1: This is clearly something you do on a grand scale. Grant,
2:17
Speaker 1: When when was your first memory of going camping? What
2:20
Speaker 1: was your first experience? Can you take us back?
2:23
Speaker 2: Let's go all the way back.
2:25
Speaker 3: My parents took me camping, and I remember it was
2:27
Speaker 3: very much a rustic experience back then and I always
2:30
Speaker 3: thought this is not what I like. Growing up as
2:34
Speaker 3: an adult, I went full glamping. So right, bey Me
2:39
Speaker 3: is actually my Suzuki Chimney which was entered in the
2:42
Speaker 3: Chimney Gathering pageants and it came second as the Globetrotter.
2:46
Speaker 2: It gives you an example of what type of camping
2:48
Speaker 2: are like.
2:48
Speaker 3: I like adventure camping, I like crossing borders, I like
2:50
Speaker 3: exploring the unknown.
2:52
Speaker 2: But I did start out with taking the entire kitchen
2:55
Speaker 2: sink with.
2:55
Speaker 1: Me, yeap, and have you paired that back now? I
2:58
Speaker 1: mean that looks like a fully kitted out vehicle with
3:01
Speaker 1: lots of things added to it. But from what you've
3:03
Speaker 1: just said about the kitchen sink, maybe you've learned over
3:06
Speaker 1: the years to also prune back a little bit. Tell
3:08
Speaker 1: us what you do consider essential to take with you.
3:15
Speaker 3: Shade number one. Shade is always important. You don't know
3:18
Speaker 3: where you're going to be and how much sun you're
3:19
Speaker 3: going to be impacted by. It's just so good to
3:21
Speaker 3: keep away from the wind. I like taking a refrigerator
3:24
Speaker 3: with me that always keeps the drinks cold on arrival.
3:29
Speaker 2: And I love.
3:33
Speaker 1: Which is the Oh, we seem to be struggling a
3:37
Speaker 1: little bit with the zoom.
3:38
Speaker 3: Lines that I would rate it an experience you can
3:41
Speaker 3: experience on the market, and that's why I'm I didn't
3:46
Speaker 3: design it.
3:47
Speaker 2: I met him. I'm the correct.
3:51
Speaker 1: We just seemed to be losing the zoom link there, afraid.
3:54
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Grant, we just lost you for a minute there.
3:58
Speaker 1: You got as far as telling us shade was in important.
4:00
Speaker 1: A fridge for cold drinks you consider essential before we
4:03
Speaker 1: move on, tell us about that fridge. Do you use
4:05
Speaker 1: one that plugs into the car, or how do you
4:08
Speaker 1: keep your drinks cold? No, okay, I think we are
4:14
Speaker 1: having an issue with the zoom connection here. My apologies
4:17
Speaker 1: for that. I'm going to try and disconnect and perhaps
4:20
Speaker 1: reconnect over Zoom or I don't know if my producer
4:23
Speaker 1: wants us to move to a phone call instead. I
4:25
Speaker 1: think that might be the safer option because we are
4:28
Speaker 1: struggling a little bit with the Zoom line. There, apologies
4:30
Speaker 1: for that. In the meantime, just reminder who you were
4:33
Speaker 1: listening to before his voice disappeared. Grant McPherson the co
4:38
Speaker 1: founder of Trail Pod Adventures, and as he was just
4:41
Speaker 1: starting to tell us he doesn't like to do the
4:44
Speaker 1: super super rustic variation of camping. He is somebody who
4:47
Speaker 1: appreciates a couple of creature comforts, but at the same
4:50
Speaker 1: time likes to go really off road and exploring into
4:53
Speaker 1: some pretty remote and challenging spaces. So I'm hoping we
4:59
Speaker 1: can get him back on a phone line to talk
5:01
Speaker 1: a little bit more about some of the places he's
5:03
Speaker 1: been to and some of the gadgets he considers essential there.
5:06
Speaker 1: In the meantime, please do get your camping WhatsApps through
5:09
Speaker 1: on seven two five six seven one five six seven.
5:13
Speaker 1: I know some people are very protective of their favorite
5:15
Speaker 1: camping sites. They don't want the word to get out
5:18
Speaker 1: there in case they become too crowded. But if you
5:20
Speaker 1: do want to tell us where your best or perhaps
5:22
Speaker 1: worst camping experience has been, you're very welcome to do so.
5:26
Speaker 1: I can tell you this. I think my most astonishing
5:29
Speaker 1: camping experience was the night I spent in a tent
5:31
Speaker 1: alongside Full Flay one year, where the wind blew so
5:34
Speaker 1: much that we woke up the next morning to find
5:36
Speaker 1: that our tent had literally moved with us inside it.
5:40
Speaker 1: It had been so windy in the night, and we
5:42
Speaker 1: own unzipped that tent flap to a different view from
5:45
Speaker 1: the one we had seen when we got into it
5:47
Speaker 1: the night before. Was quite extraordinary. Right, Sorry about the
5:50
Speaker 1: breakup in the zoom there. Grant Bigferson is back with
5:53
Speaker 1: us on a phone line, and I hope we can
5:55
Speaker 1: pick up from their Grant apologies for the sort of
5:57
Speaker 1: stop start nature of the conversation there talking to us
6:00
Speaker 1: about refrigerating for cold drinks. How do you manage that challenge?
6:05
Speaker 4: In the beginning, I saw out of the battery back wall.
6:07
Speaker 4: We all thought of the cooler box, to be honest. Yeah,
6:09
Speaker 4: it goes quite well to some point, anything above two days,
6:12
Speaker 4: maybe a run out of ice, so sort of switching
6:15
Speaker 4: to a sort of like an eco flow or one
6:18
Speaker 4: of the brands to run the refrigerator. But that's a
6:21
Speaker 4: bit of a challenge moving in and out. And as
6:23
Speaker 4: someone that's always trying to perfect the extreme human survival,
6:28
Speaker 4: I went to a installed battery system in my vehicle,
6:31
Speaker 4: in my Suzuki Chimney, and I've never looked back. It's
6:35
Speaker 4: a journey, but again it can be interesting in terms
6:39
Speaker 4: of the costs. I'm not going to deny that.
6:41
Speaker 1: Okay, Grant, I mean tell us a little bit more
6:43
Speaker 1: about this, because maybe we should should before we talk
6:45
Speaker 1: any more about your own personal camping experiences, just talk
6:48
Speaker 1: a little bit more about your business and the kinds
6:51
Speaker 1: of adventures that you offer, because what you're describing and
6:54
Speaker 1: the kinds of modifications that can be made to a
6:56
Speaker 1: vehicle are I think quite a lot tied up into
6:59
Speaker 1: your business trail pot adventures. Won't you tell us a
7:02
Speaker 1: bit more?
7:03
Speaker 4: Yeah? Sure. We started out as a teardrop caravan manufacturing
7:07
Speaker 4: business exclusively and we make a super lightweight caravan that
7:11
Speaker 4: designed for the Jymney with the thinking that if Jimney
7:14
Speaker 4: can throw it, anything can do it. And it's expanded
7:17
Speaker 4: from there from weekend adventures to a little bit of
7:19
Speaker 4: extension going to something like Africa Burn or Tanqua, trying
7:23
Speaker 4: to experience that. And recently I crossed the border for
7:25
Speaker 4: the first time. That was in July and I went
7:27
Speaker 4: from Cape Town to Pooper Falls and back down to
7:30
Speaker 4: Cape Town. It was a six thousand, seven hundred kilometer
7:33
Speaker 4: journey and there was something I learnt a lot along
7:36
Speaker 4: the way. Namibia's beautiful South Africa is astounding. There's so
7:41
Speaker 4: many options of camping in the Western Cape alone, and
7:44
Speaker 4: then across of it is the Northern Cape and the
7:47
Speaker 4: nature the landscape changes and it's just beautiful to me
7:51
Speaker 4: and I enjoy it quite a bit.
7:53
Speaker 1: Am I right in thinking? Pooper Falls aren't just in Namibia.
7:55
Speaker 1: They're on the far end of Namibia, on the northern
7:59
Speaker 1: in the northern part of the country. Am I right
8:01
Speaker 1: in thinking that?
8:02
Speaker 2: Correct?
8:03
Speaker 4: I stand on the campsite you're looking at and Gola
8:07
Speaker 4: across the river. Okay, recommend swimming it, but.
8:11
Speaker 1: Okay, but that's a proper journey and as you say, granted,
8:15
Speaker 1: I mean that's going to test your your your camping
8:17
Speaker 1: muscle in a way most journeys won't do. To an extent,
8:21
Speaker 1: most journeys won't do. Okay, So so modifying the vehicles
8:25
Speaker 1: and as you say, these things can come at a cost,
8:27
Speaker 1: but then you have the pleasure of being able to
8:29
Speaker 1: travel with all your mod CON's going with you. Grant,
8:32
Speaker 1: it's a lot cheaper to book a spart at a
8:34
Speaker 1: campsite than it is to book into a hotel because
8:36
Speaker 1: you want a cold drink the next morning.
8:38
Speaker 4: Not so precisely. And guess what, a lot less humans
8:42
Speaker 4: go to that exact spot that you booked into compared
8:45
Speaker 4: to hotels. And so I like that experience.
8:48
Speaker 1: The ice, I mean, the isolation, the sense of being
8:50
Speaker 1: properly out in nature and away from the rat race
8:53
Speaker 1: is you know, I think a large part of the
8:55
Speaker 1: reason that most people go camping in the first place.
8:57
Speaker 1: I'll completely take your point. Right, Let's talk a little
9:00
Speaker 1: bit about about gear and the things that can make
9:03
Speaker 1: the biggest difference in comfort. Now, obviously refrigerations that you
9:06
Speaker 1: can have nice cold milk, and your coffee in the
9:09
Speaker 1: next morning. You can have an ice cold beer at
9:11
Speaker 1: the end of a day's game driving, for example. That's
9:14
Speaker 1: a big one. What else would you say are non
9:16
Speaker 1: negotiable comfort items that you consider essential?
9:20
Speaker 4: For me, essential is a good, safe, quiet place to sleep.
9:25
Speaker 4: And you spoke about rooftop tens. You spoke about ground tents.
9:28
Speaker 4: There's a little term around this, we call the rooftop
9:31
Speaker 4: ten people sky people. We talk about the people on
9:34
Speaker 4: the ground as ground dwellers. And then you've got your caravaners.
9:37
Speaker 4: And for me it's personal preference. Some people love a
9:40
Speaker 4: rooftop tens, some people love the ground tent. But common
9:43
Speaker 4: between all of those places and other people love the caravans.
9:47
Speaker 4: Common between all of the spaces is a comfortable bed
9:50
Speaker 4: that is easy to set up with nice betting. I
9:52
Speaker 4: personally take my own duvet on a camp because I
9:55
Speaker 4: don't want a piece of home to come with me,
9:57
Speaker 4: even though I'm running away from home. Essentially, at least
10:00
Speaker 4: I have a piece of home that comes along.
10:02
Speaker 1: Okay, I like that, And a duvet not too heavy
10:04
Speaker 1: and can be squished into little corners under seats, et cetera.
10:07
Speaker 1: If you have to. I mean talking about people adjusting
10:11
Speaker 1: as they get older as well. Here's a lovely message
10:13
Speaker 1: in from Lynn, who says, as a kid, we did
10:16
Speaker 1: a lot of tent camping. My dad always had a
10:18
Speaker 1: thing about pitching the tent near a river so that
10:21
Speaker 1: we were all kept busy in the water and literally
10:23
Speaker 1: fell into our sleeping bags at night. She says her
10:26
Speaker 1: two favorites were in boosta on a farm, and the
10:28
Speaker 1: second in Cirrus. But she says we've upgraded now and
10:32
Speaker 1: now we have a motor home that we like to
10:34
Speaker 1: play in when we visit our family in Canada, and
10:37
Speaker 1: we have had a ball visiting very different locations. It's
10:40
Speaker 1: great having everything on hand. But maybe we're showing our age,
10:44
Speaker 1: you know. So what Lynn, I mean if you want
10:46
Speaker 1: to continue experiencing the world from a campus perspective, doesn't
10:51
Speaker 1: mean you have to be uncomfortable all the time, Grant,
10:53
Speaker 1: I mean you can take your duvet. I don't think
10:55
Speaker 1: there's anything wrong with saying, you know what, when you're twenty,
10:58
Speaker 1: it can be fun and exciting sleeping on a mat
11:00
Speaker 1: on the floor, but maybe when you're forty or fifty
11:02
Speaker 1: you don't want to do that anymore. You value your
11:04
Speaker 1: sleep too greatly, So I don't think there's anything wrong
11:07
Speaker 1: with that. Litt and I say go for it and
11:08
Speaker 1: keep on enjoying the motor home. I just want to
11:12
Speaker 1: mention in our book club slot on Friday, we're going
11:14
Speaker 1: to be talking to Marita Vanafeffer, who has just spent
11:17
Speaker 1: fifteen months traveling the world, including a session through the
11:21
Speaker 1: States in a good old fashioned campervan painted with hippie
11:25
Speaker 1: paintings on the side, and boy, oh boy, her descriptions
11:28
Speaker 1: of how rudimentary some of the facilities were and just
11:31
Speaker 1: how much they had to rough it were hysterical reading.
11:33
Speaker 1: I mean, Grant, what's the most rustic camping experience you
11:36
Speaker 1: think you've ever had? Describe for us how uncomfortable it
11:40
Speaker 1: was and whether it was worth it in the end.
11:44
Speaker 4: Wow, that's a tough question. There is this pre me
11:46
Speaker 4: getting involved in overlanding, and there's post me getting involved overlanding.
11:50
Speaker 4: I think that probably one of the roughest camp experiences
11:54
Speaker 4: I've ever had is probably attending of music festival. It
11:57
Speaker 4: is loud, it's uncomfortable, little tent and the sun slots baking,
12:01
Speaker 4: and you're wondering why I chose to do this life
12:04
Speaker 4: and then you grow up and you decided maybe being
12:07
Speaker 4: away from these settles are interesting and in terms of
12:11
Speaker 4: rustic I recently stayed on the West Coast. It was
12:14
Speaker 4: two weeks ago actually, yep, an area of Lutzville, and
12:18
Speaker 4: all that it had was a long drop on the
12:20
Speaker 4: actual campsite, but everything else you took with you. But
12:23
Speaker 4: it was one of the most beautiful experiences because the
12:26
Speaker 4: ocean was right there. Oh, you pride every night, cook
12:29
Speaker 4: breakfast on your cookers, and you spent it decent while
12:34
Speaker 4: deserve family time, just connecting with one another in nature.
12:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot to be said for it. Absolutely,
12:41
Speaker 1: Lindsay riding in to say, when I was twelve, I
12:43
Speaker 1: went camping in Biro Morzambique with friends of my parents
12:47
Speaker 1: and their children. I vowed I would never go camping again,
12:51
Speaker 1: and I'm seventy five and have stuck to that decision.
12:53
Speaker 1: That's also fine, Lindsay, Different strokes for different folks. But
12:56
Speaker 1: for those of you who are keen campers, please share
12:58
Speaker 1: with us the store worries of the most extraordinary, bizarre,
13:02
Speaker 1: out there camping experiences, but also the most memorable and
13:06
Speaker 1: beautiful spots you've been in and perhaps you want to
13:09
Speaker 1: talk to us about what level of luxury you have
13:12
Speaker 1: started to require, particularly as you've got a little bit
13:14
Speaker 1: older in the camping journey. We are in conversation with
13:18
Speaker 1: Grant McPherson, the co founder of trail Pod Adventures, somebody
13:21
Speaker 1: who is really into the overlanding camping experience and who
13:25
Speaker 1: does believe that it's absolutely fine, if not a little
13:29
Speaker 1: bit essential, to have a few creature comforts with you
13:32
Speaker 1: on the road. I mean for somebody who wants to
13:35
Speaker 1: try it out for the first time. Grant, I think
13:38
Speaker 1: there's something to be said for the slightly more lux
13:40
Speaker 1: camping experience. If somebody is a complete newcomer, maybe ease
13:44
Speaker 1: them in with something a little bit more comfy than
13:46
Speaker 1: throwing them into the old fashioned tent and rubber matt
13:49
Speaker 1: But the other thing is the costs involved. If somebody
13:51
Speaker 1: doesn't know if they're going to sort of commit to
13:55
Speaker 1: the style of traveling, obviously you're not going to rush
13:57
Speaker 1: out and buy the vehicle and buy the rooftop tent
13:59
Speaker 1: and buy the battery convergence systems, et cetera without trying
14:04
Speaker 1: it out. Is it possible to rent that kind of
14:06
Speaker 1: equipment quite easily if you just want to say, let's
14:08
Speaker 1: try it for a weekend and see if we actually.
14:10
Speaker 4: Like it, that's totally possible. There are a couple of
14:14
Speaker 4: rental companies around us. Personally as a company, we tend
14:18
Speaker 4: to run camps. And there's a bit of advice that
14:21
Speaker 4: I got, but I got into the industry well, actually
14:23
Speaker 4: just bought my first four by four. Someone said to me,
14:26
Speaker 4: do not spend too much money on your vehicle until
14:28
Speaker 4: you've taken it out multiple times and you try to
14:31
Speaker 4: understand what's start to understand what you need. And that
14:33
Speaker 4: individual loan me a rooftop tents. My first trip was
14:37
Speaker 4: my first four by four with a loan rooftop tent.
14:40
Speaker 4: I learned that I needed a little bit of this
14:42
Speaker 4: level of that to make it more comfortable for me,
14:45
Speaker 4: and that's the ethos that we practice. Come give us
14:47
Speaker 4: a call, try to rooftop tents that we have. Sometimes
14:51
Speaker 4: rooftop tents are better than tudop caravans, and sometimeso caravans
14:54
Speaker 4: better than a rooftop tents. And he gets an amazing
14:57
Speaker 4: ground tents as well, And it's just for preference and
15:01
Speaker 4: join a camping community. There's quite a few on Facebook
15:03
Speaker 4: there's quite a few WhatsApp groups around where you just
15:06
Speaker 4: go out of the community. I have a couple of
15:08
Speaker 4: people that have said to me, I don't even have
15:11
Speaker 4: a camp chair, and I say, I have multiple campaigns.
15:13
Speaker 4: Just borrow one of mine. Unlet's go sit next to
15:15
Speaker 4: a fire and they get the experience.
15:17
Speaker 1: It's That's great advice is join a community where you
15:21
Speaker 1: likely to meet people who've already got all the kit
15:24
Speaker 1: and can give you advice and perhaps lend it to
15:26
Speaker 1: you or hire it to you if you want to
15:27
Speaker 1: give it a test run, grant the vehicle itself. How
15:30
Speaker 1: important is four by four capacity? I mean, is it
15:32
Speaker 1: possible to have a good, extensive camping explorer exploration over
15:38
Speaker 1: multiple holidays without ever investing in a four x four
15:41
Speaker 1: or is it really something you must consider?
15:46
Speaker 4: You could completely have a correct camp without a four
15:48
Speaker 4: by four. There's multiple camp sites around that are hidden gems.
15:53
Speaker 4: You just don't know about it until you start to explore.
15:56
Speaker 4: Just talk to everyone and ask, like, I would love
15:59
Speaker 4: to go a full weekend. What you suggest I don't
16:01
Speaker 4: have the clearance and I don't have the capacity of
16:04
Speaker 4: all wheel drive. Where where do you suggesting? People are
16:06
Speaker 4: very open to giving advice. For me personally, it's just
16:09
Speaker 4: I want to go to the extreme of finding a
16:13
Speaker 4: spot that's my preference. But further, they enjoy it multiple
16:17
Speaker 4: camp sites, and I can suggest multiple campsites along the
16:19
Speaker 4: way in terms of ease of access.
16:22
Speaker 1: Okay, so I'm going to ask you, just off the
16:24
Speaker 1: top of your head, for somebody who is a complete
16:26
Speaker 1: newbie who wants a quick weekend get away to try
16:28
Speaker 1: it out close to Capeton, can you think of one
16:31
Speaker 1: off the top of your head that doesn't require four
16:33
Speaker 1: four access that you'd say, Hey, why didn't you start
16:36
Speaker 1: with campsite X?
16:39
Speaker 4: So I actually have a few. We've got Groffessa near
16:43
Speaker 4: Robertson that doesn't require four by four access. It's along
16:45
Speaker 4: the river around along the Britder River. Then you've got
16:49
Speaker 4: the classic beaver At. Everyone loved that if you're willing
16:51
Speaker 4: to be a bit adventurous for your vehicle, and then
16:56
Speaker 4: it's just want to get a bit of dirt road,
16:58
Speaker 4: a bit of bull and away from everybody's blank Fata
17:01
Speaker 4: and Citrus Doll And I'm just named all of those
17:03
Speaker 4: as dog friendly campsite because I have dogs and I
17:06
Speaker 4: like to take them camping as well.
17:07
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you've mentioned that because Keith actually wrote
17:09
Speaker 1: in saying more people like to go camping with their dogs.
17:12
Speaker 1: But is it a struggle to find places that will
17:14
Speaker 1: accept dogs? So those three will all gladly have you
17:16
Speaker 1: with your dog in tow. Is that becoming more common
17:19
Speaker 1: as an offering grant or are there's still a lot
17:21
Speaker 1: of sites that say no animals.
17:24
Speaker 4: Generally speaking, you can reach out to the campsite and
17:28
Speaker 4: ask for permission and they return with her. Is it
17:31
Speaker 4: a quiet dog? Will it be attached to you? As
17:34
Speaker 4: I finally keeping a lease of them, They're quite open
17:36
Speaker 4: to the idea. But it has been a growing community
17:40
Speaker 4: in terms of camping with your fur baby as you
17:43
Speaker 4: like to call them. Yeah, and they come along and
17:45
Speaker 4: they enjoy their camps and they get to socialize along
17:48
Speaker 4: the way and we get to spend time with the dogs.
17:51
Speaker 2: Sounds woo and yeah.
17:53
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, as I'm writing and saying, we love camping
17:56
Speaker 1: and go more than once a year, but comfort is
17:59
Speaker 1: so important. I'd love to know your guests view on beds.
18:02
Speaker 1: We did the blow up. It was comfortable, but it
18:04
Speaker 1: needs to be pumped up every night. We did have
18:06
Speaker 1: the electric one, which made things a little bit easier.
18:09
Speaker 1: But we've now bought a stretcher. But the mattress is
18:12
Speaker 1: not comfortable. So you've already said you take the douvet,
18:14
Speaker 1: but grant what's underneath you. Underneath you and the douvet,
18:17
Speaker 1: do you do you go for the blow up mattress option,
18:19
Speaker 1: or the stretcher option or something else.
18:22
Speaker 4: I'm going to give you a little joke here. It's
18:24
Speaker 4: a little running internal joke. We call it an F
18:26
Speaker 4: plus matras. It's always deflating.
18:30
Speaker 2: I tried that.
18:31
Speaker 4: It wasn't my favorite. We generally speak and use a firm,
18:35
Speaker 4: high density, firm mattress. And for suggestion, stretches are amazing.
18:39
Speaker 4: Try get yourself a honeycomb topper and you take that
18:42
Speaker 4: along and put that on top of the stretcher and
18:44
Speaker 4: you'll have a comfortable, sleek.
18:45
Speaker 1: Okay, honeycomb topper. And is that widely available in most
18:48
Speaker 1: outdoor stores.
18:50
Speaker 4: I would more look at your where you get material
18:54
Speaker 4: from all your fiam companies and you just go around
18:57
Speaker 4: and give it in measurements and it cuts it up
18:58
Speaker 4: and it rolls up quite nicely. You can put a
19:00
Speaker 4: little rope around it. Tucket in the car and you
19:03
Speaker 4: have a beautiful seat, okay.
19:05
Speaker 1: And that little bit of sponginess underneath you can make
19:07
Speaker 1: all the difference. So that's a great suggestion. Thanks Alzan,
19:11
Speaker 1: good luck to you and happy camping. A lovely message
19:14
Speaker 1: in from Natasha, who says, when I was a child
19:15
Speaker 1: we lived in the Trance Sky. It was the nineteen eighties.
19:18
Speaker 1: Camping was still very rustic. My dad would set up
19:21
Speaker 1: the tent on a hill at Mazeppa Bay or some
19:23
Speaker 1: other beautiful spot along the wild coast and it was
19:26
Speaker 1: just us. My dad would go fishing in the morning,
19:29
Speaker 1: the kids would go down to the lagoon to swim,
19:31
Speaker 1: and we would eat his catch on the fire in
19:33
Speaker 1: the evening, adventures all day. We absolutely loved it, Natasha.
19:38
Speaker 1: I mean that part of the country firstly, is just
19:40
Speaker 1: so beautiful and still so remote, and that sense of being,
19:44
Speaker 1: you know, incomplete wilderness is so so precious, and you're very,
19:48
Speaker 1: very lucky to have had that experience and have those
19:51
Speaker 1: memories to hold on to. So long may they last.
19:56
Speaker 4: Okay.
19:56
Speaker 1: Here's a message in from Chantal saying she also loves camping,
20:01
Speaker 1: but she finds the experience of booking is often difficult.
20:05
Speaker 1: So she's finding online booking platforms are helpful, grant her
20:09
Speaker 1: a lot of are a lot of camp sites getting
20:11
Speaker 1: into that sort of that phase of catching up with
20:14
Speaker 1: modern technology, or do you find that a number of
20:17
Speaker 1: the good ones still just need a good old fashioned
20:18
Speaker 1: phone call to say, have you got a spot on
20:20
Speaker 1: X y Z date?
20:23
Speaker 4: I wish they were developing as fast as what you
20:26
Speaker 4: just said. Unfortunately, it is very analogue my favorite camps
20:30
Speaker 4: that I don't know if I should say this, but
20:32
Speaker 4: i'll involves the Moon. About last year, I asked, can
20:36
Speaker 4: you give me a schedule so I can see some
20:38
Speaker 4: gaps that I could book? And she said, no, you
20:40
Speaker 4: just need to WhatsApp. And I said, can you send
20:42
Speaker 4: me an Xcel sheet? And as she said, we haven't
20:44
Speaker 4: made one of those, but we will make one for you. God.
20:46
Speaker 4: That's how she developed their booking system thanks to me
20:49
Speaker 4: asking for an Xcel sheet.
20:51
Speaker 1: Sure. So when you say seriously, still at a log
20:54
Speaker 1: they you really mean it? Okay, So some degree of
20:57
Speaker 1: patients required and some degree of being willing to sit
21:00
Speaker 1: and make the actual phone calls. I mean it must
21:01
Speaker 1: be terrifying for the millennials. You don't like to talk
21:04
Speaker 1: to people on the phone. But there we go CALLI
21:07
Speaker 1: commenting that since COVID so many people have taken to camping.
21:11
Speaker 1: We prefer quiet, small spots, and I love that so
21:14
Speaker 1: many of our farmers are setting up private camp sites.
21:17
Speaker 1: Are you find in grants what CALLI alert ludes to
21:20
Speaker 1: there that new spots are opening up all the time.
21:24
Speaker 4: Completely completely, everyone's talking about the new spots. Have you
21:27
Speaker 4: have taken a look at this money We're taken a
21:29
Speaker 4: look at this one, the very one I just said,
21:30
Speaker 4: moon Rover in the Cedarburg. Yeah, they opened up during
21:33
Speaker 4: COVID and you could only contact them by WhatsApp and
21:36
Speaker 4: that was when she was around our house and teed
21:38
Speaker 4: Wi Fi. Yeah it is, and this multiple one is
21:44
Speaker 4: opening up all the time. You get your very very
21:46
Speaker 4: popular ones like twas the cart Hardaway. Yes, that is
21:50
Speaker 4: a that opens up for the end of the year
21:51
Speaker 4: for the next year, as in Ellie Jan.
21:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I have. I have actually camped there, and
22:00
Speaker 1: I understand why it's in such huge demand because it
22:02
Speaker 1: is such a beautiful spot. But there you have it
22:06
Speaker 1: from the horse's mouth that some of these places you
22:08
Speaker 1: really have got a book well in advance to be
22:10
Speaker 1: able to secure your space. Grant, I mean, it's been
22:14
Speaker 1: fascinating chatting to you. Thank you so much for all
22:16
Speaker 1: the advice that you've shared with our listeners. If somebody
22:18
Speaker 1: is listening to this as a complete novice and would
22:21
Speaker 1: like to pick your brain for advice, maybe reach out
22:24
Speaker 1: to trail Pod Adventures to discuss kits and vehicles and
22:27
Speaker 1: where to go, et cetera. What's the best way to
22:29
Speaker 1: make contact.
22:30
Speaker 3: With you.
22:32
Speaker 4: In grant our website www dot trailpod dot is a
22:37
Speaker 4: contact at the bottom of the website, and there's a WhatsApp,
22:39
Speaker 4: there's an email. Anyway, when a reach you, you'll reach
22:43
Speaker 4: the team and we will respond great.
22:45
Speaker 1: Have you with us this afternoon, Grant McPherson, Thank you
22:47
Speaker 1: so much for your time, and happy trails and happy
22:49
Speaker 1: camping to you and your loved ones, including the fir
22:52
Speaker 1: children going forward. Grant McPherson the co founder of Trailpod Adventures,