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The Overlander's Every Day Carry (EDC) · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am
0:07
Speaker 1: your host Scott Brady, and I am here with my
0:10
Speaker 1: co host Matt Scott. And for today's podcast, we are
0:14
Speaker 1: going to do the deep dive into the Overlanders every
0:18
Speaker 1: day carry So we're going to talk about electronics, We're
0:21
Speaker 1: going to talk about watches, we're going to talk about
0:23
Speaker 1: knives and clothing and luggage. And this episode is also
0:27
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0:32
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1:40
Speaker 2: For us today. We're actually going tactical. We're talking about EDC. Everyone, yeah,
1:44
Speaker 2: start foaming at the mouth. I don't know, people seem
1:48
Speaker 2: to be really into the EDC thing. I generally don't
1:51
Speaker 2: even carry things on my person other than my cell phone,
1:55
Speaker 2: but apparently people do, and there's times that we do
1:59
Speaker 2: as well. Oh yeah, yeah, totally.
2:01
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about the stuff that we
2:04
Speaker 1: have on our person typically when we're traveling. We're also
2:07
Speaker 1: going to talk about the gear that we bring along
2:10
Speaker 1: if we're flying into some place, and then we'll touch
2:13
Speaker 1: briefly on those high points of the stuff that we
2:16
Speaker 1: typically stick into the vehicle as well. And we're going
2:19
Speaker 1: to start off with Matt because he is such an
2:22
Speaker 1: interesting person and the stuff that he brings with him
2:25
Speaker 1: is sick is so interesting that I think it's going
2:28
Speaker 1: to be fun to talk about. So, Matt, what do
2:31
Speaker 1: you always carry on your person?
2:34
Speaker 2: You know? I mean generally as a person, I garticulate
2:38
Speaker 2: wildly from one side or the other. But I'm like
2:42
Speaker 2: a fair weather overlander. I don't go to like Greenland
2:45
Speaker 2: in the middle of winter like you do, so you know, typically,
2:48
Speaker 2: you know, I'm kind of the flip flops and board
2:50
Speaker 2: shorts kind of guy. You know, occasionally I wear pants
2:54
Speaker 2: while overlanding. I generally try and avoid that. But I
2:58
Speaker 2: don't know. I mean some of the useful things seltheast
3:00
Speaker 2: Asia has completely ruined you, Southeast Asia and Baha and Australia.
3:03
Speaker 2: I mean, are there any other places to go? Yeah,
3:07
Speaker 2: I don't know. So let's let's start with the opposite
3:09
Speaker 2: of those places. Is a jacket. Yeah, I've been wearing
3:13
Speaker 2: this beyond thing that I actually got from you. I
3:16
Speaker 2: really like it. I like it kind of has like
3:18
Speaker 2: a cool trendy cameo print on the inside, so it's
3:21
Speaker 2: hip when it's cool, but it's really really warm. I
3:23
Speaker 2: can't I want to say it's like a thin slit style,
3:26
Speaker 2: you know, lining on the inside. It's just really comfortable
3:29
Speaker 2: and it's really durable too. I think when when I
3:32
Speaker 2: do look for clothing, I look for stuff that okay,
3:35
Speaker 2: sweet chocko reservoir falls off, something happens to your car.
3:40
Speaker 2: I have to actually get underneath. I don't want it
3:43
Speaker 2: to be ruined. So for me, a lot of those
3:45
Speaker 2: kind of you know, I call them like the puffy jackets.
3:48
Speaker 2: I've never really you know, you know, been up to
3:50
Speaker 2: it for me because they kind of they tear easily,
3:52
Speaker 2: you know, and they get ruined by the fire. And yeah, yeah,
3:55
Speaker 2: this thing is like I mean, I feel like you
3:58
Speaker 2: could fall off a motorcycle on it, but it's still
4:00
Speaker 2: cozy and comfy, which is important to me. I mean,
4:03
Speaker 2: who doesn't want to feel cozy and comfy. But that's
4:07
Speaker 2: a big thing, you know. Sunglasses, I guess are a thing.
4:10
Speaker 2: I guess it depends what I'm doing. I'm a stickler
4:14
Speaker 2: for optical clarity, so I really like Persol and that's
4:19
Speaker 2: mainly because of their glass lenses. I guess they just
4:22
Speaker 2: seem to last longer. I always say, like I can't
4:25
Speaker 2: afford to do things, to buy things. Twice, I've had
4:29
Speaker 2: the same pair for ten years. And they just work.
4:33
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, once you find something that really works. Yeah,
4:37
Speaker 1: And it's been interesting talking about the Beyond brand. We've
4:42
Speaker 1: started to use some of their stuff, and it's been
4:46
Speaker 1: interesting to watch because, you know, in the last fifteen
4:49
Speaker 1: years or so, a lot of what the special Forces
4:53
Speaker 1: and Recon and these other guys are using is coming
4:56
Speaker 1: more into the general consumer space where people are starting
5:01
Speaker 1: to adopt a lot of these technologies and a lot
5:04
Speaker 1: of these clothing types that these operators are using. And
5:07
Speaker 1: it was really interesting talking with the folks at Beyond
5:11
Speaker 1: because they recognize that ten years ago, fifteen years ago,
5:16
Speaker 1: these guys were wearing this stuff and in the beginning
5:18
Speaker 1: they kind of look like tourists. They kind of they
5:21
Speaker 1: were a little understated, but then everybody realized really quickly,
5:24
Speaker 1: like it's a guy in Patagonia with a set of
5:27
Speaker 1: solomons on, He's now a target. So these companies are
5:33
Speaker 1: making technical gear that now looks like what everybody else wears.
5:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's just the coolest thing with Beyond.
5:40
Speaker 2: I mean, there's there's definitely other brands that I enjoy
5:43
Speaker 2: that are, you know, more tactical, but that stuff overseas
5:47
Speaker 2: in my opinion, I actively try to avoid it. Me too.
5:52
Speaker 2: I remember trying to remember where in Tokyo I was,
5:57
Speaker 2: but there is two tactical you know local kids had
6:01
Speaker 2: the backpacks and all the you know that looked like
6:02
Speaker 2: they walked out of a five eleven. Sorry, they literally
6:05
Speaker 2: just got searched because it's like, why do you why
6:08
Speaker 2: are you dressing like this? Right? You know, it's transcended
6:10
Speaker 2: from being kind of cool guy stuff to like you're
6:16
Speaker 2: now a target. You're now a target, Like I don't.
6:19
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, one of the I've had two very serious
6:23
Speaker 1: searches in all of my times traveling. One of them
6:26
Speaker 1: was the Canadian border, which that just seems to be
6:29
Speaker 1: a thing at the Canadian border. But then the other
6:32
Speaker 1: one was at Iceland. And I get off the plane
6:35
Speaker 1: and I've got all of the high speed I look
6:38
Speaker 1: like like the operator guy.
6:41
Speaker 2: That's why I wear floral and Paisley shirts. I look
6:45
Speaker 2: like that guy. Good idea.
6:46
Speaker 1: Well, and I get through customs and immigration and this
6:51
Speaker 1: guy walks up to me and.
6:52
Speaker 2: Says, hey, we need to have a chat.
6:54
Speaker 1: I'm like all right, And he looks and he's got
6:55
Speaker 1: a badge, and every looks very serious. So we go
6:58
Speaker 1: into this little room and he's like, you need to
7:00
Speaker 1: disclose what branch of the military you're in'. Well, I said,
7:03
Speaker 1: I'm a veteran. I was in the Air Force. And
7:06
Speaker 1: he just did this full breakdown, like why are you here?
7:10
Speaker 2: What are you doing.
7:11
Speaker 1: I've never had this happen before, but I realized what
7:13
Speaker 1: was different that day wearing Solomon's I've got like the
7:17
Speaker 1: kind of tactical gear on, and I realized that I
7:21
Speaker 1: painted a target on me of military age.
7:24
Speaker 2: Male.
7:26
Speaker 1: I was in the military. I carry myself in a
7:28
Speaker 1: certain way, and I'm wearing all of the stuff that
7:30
Speaker 1: checks the boxes, and they wanted to know why I
7:33
Speaker 1: was there, what was I doing, what was my intentions?
7:36
Speaker 2: And the same thing happened in Kenya.
7:38
Speaker 1: We got caught for doing an illegal border crossing from
7:41
Speaker 1: Uganda into Kenya, Brian Bass and I and next thing
7:45
Speaker 1: you know, we're getting dressed down by the local police
7:48
Speaker 1: and they keep telling us we have to disclose our mission.
7:50
Speaker 1: And it's just because we had some para cord and
7:53
Speaker 1: we had some of these things that look very tactical.
7:56
Speaker 1: And I'm realizing that now I just don't have it
8:00
Speaker 1: at all. I avoid it almost like the plague.
8:03
Speaker 2: I do avoid it like the plague because for our
8:06
Speaker 2: new video listeners, I wear birkenstocks, the surest way to
8:11
Speaker 2: not be tactical. Not be tactical. I also don't look
8:16
Speaker 2: very threatening in my opinion. Oh that's funny. What are
8:21
Speaker 2: some of the things you carry?
8:22
Speaker 1: I mean, well, when I think about my like day
8:26
Speaker 1: to day clothing, what I have on me. I used
8:30
Speaker 1: to have a lot more stuff in my pockets. But
8:33
Speaker 1: it's interesting. You can't stand having stuff in my brakets.
8:36
Speaker 1: But the cool thing about the phones is it just steadily,
8:39
Speaker 1: it steadily replaces all of the stuff. Yeah, so you
8:43
Speaker 1: don't have an iPod anymore. The iPods on your phone.
8:46
Speaker 1: You don't really need to have a pocket flashlight because
8:50
Speaker 1: these led lights on the phone are super bright.
8:52
Speaker 2: Pretty good. I mean I have to say that. You know,
8:56
Speaker 2: I used to nearly religiously carry you know, some sort
8:59
Speaker 2: of light sort with me. I had this little double
9:01
Speaker 2: A triple Lot designs flashlight kind of thing maybe was
9:04
Speaker 2: Triple A or something. Used to carry that with me.
9:06
Speaker 2: He used to be in my keys. Now I just
9:08
Speaker 2: have a phone. Yeah, like they really work, I guess,
9:11
Speaker 2: you know, in a simple statement, What is my e DC,
9:15
Speaker 2: my phone, my phone? Yeah, it can be your wallet,
9:18
Speaker 2: it can be everything. You know we're going to talk about.
9:21
Speaker 2: Do you do that? Do you have your wallet combined
9:23
Speaker 2: with your phone? One hundred percent? I use it as
9:26
Speaker 2: much as I can when I'm overseas. You know, overseas,
9:29
Speaker 2: most payments are tap and go. They are at least
9:33
Speaker 2: at least when you're in you know, first second world countries.
9:37
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's more secure. They're not getting my
9:40
Speaker 2: actual credit card number. There's there's nothing for them to
9:43
Speaker 2: steal since the entire transaction is encrypted and really safe.
9:48
Speaker 2: You know, I also find I don't know, I I
9:51
Speaker 2: just really like it. I guess I try and get
9:53
Speaker 2: that in all my cards these days, just to tap
9:56
Speaker 2: and go, because then there's nothing for them to swipe,
9:58
Speaker 2: there's not them to skim. I mean, if you want
10:01
Speaker 2: to talk about actual security, and now we're talking about
10:03
Speaker 2: knives and guns and stuff with DC, use Apple pay
10:06
Speaker 2: or Google pay or contact lists. Like where are you
10:10
Speaker 2: actually going to be a victim of a crime. It's
10:13
Speaker 2: probably when you're traveling handing Statistically, it's handing somebody your
10:17
Speaker 2: credit card. I mean, I shouldn't. Statistically, I don't really know,
10:20
Speaker 2: but I know that when I travel, especially in the
10:22
Speaker 2: United States, because it seems every gas pump you go
10:24
Speaker 2: to is you know, somebody skim in some kind of information.
10:28
Speaker 2: Even in Prescott where we live, which is pretty sleepy.
10:32
Speaker 1: It is and it's becoming more and more of a problem.
10:34
Speaker 1: And I do like the fact that we can now
10:36
Speaker 1: use our phone or a watch to do payments, and
10:40
Speaker 1: in the days of now COVID's, I think a lot
10:44
Speaker 1: of that technology is going to come into play very
10:47
Speaker 1: rapidly too. I'm seeing places that I've gone to for
10:50
Speaker 1: years where I used to have to slide a card
10:52
Speaker 1: or insert a card, and now I can just pay
10:54
Speaker 1: with the watch or with the phone. So I do
10:58
Speaker 1: see the iPhone as being this killer app now for
11:01
Speaker 1: most of e DC. When I'm when I'm in North America,
11:04
Speaker 1: I tend to carry a few more things. I do
11:08
Speaker 1: tend to carry a knife. C r KT came out
11:11
Speaker 1: with this pretty cool folding carambit. When I'm traveling internationally,
11:16
Speaker 1: I do have just a pocket knife, so I never.
11:18
Speaker 2: Want There's a size depending on the country that less.
11:21
Speaker 1: Than two inches one point nine inches is a good
11:24
Speaker 1: standard for that, so I have I think it's it's
11:30
Speaker 1: Prometheus Design Works had this cool little looks like a
11:33
Speaker 1: boy Scout folder that they sold for a while, made
11:36
Speaker 1: in the USA. It's less than two inch blade length,
11:39
Speaker 1: and I just stick it in my pocket because I
11:41
Speaker 1: don't want the clip that shows that I've got a
11:44
Speaker 1: knife in my pocket. And in a lot of in
11:47
Speaker 1: a lot of countries it may allow a one point
11:49
Speaker 1: nine inch knife. But in some cities, like if you're
11:52
Speaker 1: in New York, for example, you don't want to have
11:54
Speaker 1: a knife on you at all. There are very strict
11:57
Speaker 1: restrictions around knives in New York City, and same thing
12:01
Speaker 1: with London. London very serious restrictions around knives. So you
12:05
Speaker 1: want to think about what is the lowest common denominator
12:08
Speaker 1: in your travels and make sure that you comply with
12:11
Speaker 1: that for the rest of your trip so you don't
12:13
Speaker 1: accidentally get caught with a knife.
12:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I used to travel with a with
12:17
Speaker 2: a knife and now I you know, I mean, if
12:19
Speaker 2: I'm going to Baja or something, I just like to
12:22
Speaker 2: leave knives and stuff in the vehicle. I have like
12:25
Speaker 2: a DPX gear, a knife from Robert Young Pelton. I
12:28
Speaker 2: love it because it opens Amazon boxes very very efficiently,
12:31
Speaker 2: and it has a kind of a built in bottle
12:33
Speaker 2: opener integral to the blade, and I use that quite
12:36
Speaker 2: a bit. But you know, knives have their place when
12:39
Speaker 2: we're out in the field. I don't. I just I've
12:42
Speaker 2: never traveled internationally with one. I mean all the countries
12:45
Speaker 2: I go to, I mean Australia. You don't want to
12:47
Speaker 2: get caught with that kind of stuff coming in. You know,
12:50
Speaker 2: they're they're very by the book kind of country.
12:54
Speaker 1: And the best way to do that, what I found
12:56
Speaker 1: is if you're traveling into a country, or if you're
12:58
Speaker 1: doing carry on luggage only, which Matt and I both
13:02
Speaker 1: try to do in almost all cases. When I get
13:05
Speaker 1: into country, I just buy a cheap knife. You just
13:08
Speaker 1: go to a local set.
13:09
Speaker 2: Store getting Namibia earlier this year, and then you throw
13:12
Speaker 2: it away or you give it to you don't throw
13:13
Speaker 2: it away, you give it to a local, You give
13:14
Speaker 2: it to your buddy that you're hanging out with, you
13:16
Speaker 2: give them the knife before you leave. But in North America,
13:20
Speaker 2: I do tend to carry a knife on me. I
13:24
Speaker 2: do have a very minimalist wallet. It's made by Magpole.
13:27
Speaker 1: It carries a couple credit cards. It doesn't look tactical
13:31
Speaker 1: at all. It's just a very simple thing.
13:33
Speaker 2: While they use some really nice materials and you know,
13:36
Speaker 2: their construction techniques are relatively interesting. Like I love those
13:39
Speaker 2: little pouches they do that are like, oh, the Doca
13:41
Speaker 2: pouches yeather like sealed or something. I have money, do those? Yeah?
13:44
Speaker 2: Their money? Yeah. You know.
13:46
Speaker 1: I use them for all of my wires, and they're
13:48
Speaker 1: different colors, so when you reach into your backpack, you know, okay,
13:52
Speaker 1: the orange Doca pouches for all my camera gear. The
13:56
Speaker 1: green one is for all of my wires and the others.
13:59
Speaker 2: You know, I don't currently do this, but I after
14:02
Speaker 2: this conversation, I'm going to get one of those for
14:04
Speaker 2: all the insurance paperwork because I'll have Mexican insurance in
14:07
Speaker 2: the car usually year around, and all this stuff, I
14:10
Speaker 2: can just throw it in there. Get me the orange,
14:12
Speaker 2: Get me the orange one. Yeah, that's all you have
14:14
Speaker 2: to say to your passenger. They don't have to flick through.
14:16
Speaker 2: You have your stuff in order, which is generally always good.
14:21
Speaker 1: I think they're one of the best new products for
14:25
Speaker 1: every traveler, and like one of the experiences that I
14:29
Speaker 1: had in South America. I had my passport in an
14:31
Speaker 1: outside pocket on my motorcycle jacket. Torrential rainpour right and
14:36
Speaker 1: I get to my next hotel or wherever I was staying,
14:39
Speaker 1: and I pull out the passport and it was totally soaked.
14:42
Speaker 1: So now, and it created a problem. Like the passport's
14:44
Speaker 1: the RFI didn't work. It created problems with me getting
14:47
Speaker 1: in and out of airports until I got it replaced.
14:49
Speaker 1: So what I do now is I have one of
14:51
Speaker 1: the small DOCA pouches and that's where I put my passport,
14:55
Speaker 1: but I put my currency.
14:56
Speaker 2: And then it's always the idea, it's always sealed. I
15:00
Speaker 2: I put my passport through a laundry cycle or something,
15:07
Speaker 2: and I had to live with that without having that
15:08
Speaker 2: E passport thing. I mean, I think one of the
15:10
Speaker 2: cool things as Americans is there are a lot of
15:13
Speaker 2: you know, they'll allow Americans through the you know, the
15:15
Speaker 2: E passport lines or the resident lines and a lot
15:19
Speaker 2: of countries, and you just don't get to take advantage
15:21
Speaker 2: of that, and you get thrown into the general customs
15:23
Speaker 2: line and that's way more time, way more time, way
15:26
Speaker 2: more time, do you uh? I mean? Guns, I guess
15:29
Speaker 2: DC is a is a big, a big part of that. Well.
15:32
Speaker 1: I do carry a gun at times, especially if I
15:35
Speaker 1: have people with me, a family, and otherwise when I'm
15:39
Speaker 1: camping in North America and I'll just carry a glock nineteen.
15:42
Speaker 1: It's just kind of the ubiquitous solution for that. I
15:44
Speaker 1: have a little rigor LCP.
15:46
Speaker 2: I like it. It's made right here in Prescott. Yeah,
15:49
Speaker 2: that is a cool story made two miles from here
15:51
Speaker 2: or something like that. Yep, it's got a little laser
15:53
Speaker 2: on it. I always think a laser getting shown at
15:57
Speaker 2: somebody in the middle of the night is probably enough
15:59
Speaker 2: to turn it for them to get the point.
16:01
Speaker 1: Well, and I think around firearms, the most important thing
16:04
Speaker 1: because we're not going to make this about firearms at all,
16:06
Speaker 1: but the most important things with firearms is if you
16:09
Speaker 1: own one, invest in the training that's necessary to operate
16:13
Speaker 1: it safely, and make sure that the people that are
16:15
Speaker 1: with you also have that training because they may need
16:18
Speaker 1: to use the firearm as well. Make sure you keep
16:20
Speaker 1: it secured, particularly around children. In North America. I do
16:23
Speaker 1: carry one. I have a lot of training in the
16:26
Speaker 1: use of it, and I feel comfortable with it. But
16:28
Speaker 1: when I travel internationally I don't even think about it. Yeah, yeah,
16:30
Speaker 1: it's not just put it outation, put it out of
16:32
Speaker 1: your mind.
16:34
Speaker 2: Electronics, you're big on the Microsoft surface thing.
16:38
Speaker 1: Well, but I'm like, the love affairs is maybe coming
16:42
Speaker 1: to it. And and I mean one of the things
16:45
Speaker 1: about Apple is once you get into this ecosystem, everything
16:50
Speaker 1: works very well together. Does I think what happened for
16:55
Speaker 1: me is I had half a million images in the
17:00
Speaker 1: aperture program by Apple and they discontinued that, which was
17:05
Speaker 1: it was basically one of the first steps of them
17:07
Speaker 1: starting to abandon the creatives. And it was such a blow,
17:11
Speaker 1: not only just because I liked the program, but it
17:13
Speaker 1: was a huge endeavor for me.
17:16
Speaker 2: To mind, I was a huge aperture guy. I did
17:18
Speaker 2: not like the transition a lightroom and now like I
17:21
Speaker 2: finally get on the lightroom thing, and now they're saying, oh,
17:24
Speaker 2: you have to use lightroom creative cloud. I mean, there's
17:26
Speaker 2: things I like the cloud for, but I don't need
17:28
Speaker 2: every single image being downloaded all the time. I just
17:32
Speaker 2: want them, especially since they just a few days ago
17:35
Speaker 2: had a major data failure and a bunch of people
17:38
Speaker 2: lost their images out of a cloud. So it starts
17:41
Speaker 2: to make you think about are is this really safe?
17:44
Speaker 2: So I have written down under here importance of the
17:47
Speaker 2: cloud when traveling. I will not talk about that one.
17:51
Speaker 1: Well, it is important because we can keep copies of
17:54
Speaker 1: all of our documents in the cloud. I use Google
17:56
Speaker 1: Drive for everything. I've never had a failure with Google Drive.
17:59
Speaker 1: I think Google just knows that that's a nogo. You
18:02
Speaker 1: can never have that kind of a failure. I don't think.
18:05
Speaker 1: I don't think Adobe is paying close enough attention to
18:09
Speaker 1: the critical nature of imagery and the fact that there's
18:12
Speaker 1: never an option. There's never a scenario where you can
18:14
Speaker 1: lose someone's photos. And they just did that, and that's
18:17
Speaker 1: going to compromise people's confidence in the application. But when
18:21
Speaker 1: it comes to the surface, what I liked was the
18:23
Speaker 1: fact that all of the surface devices, except for some
18:26
Speaker 1: of their new specific laptops. But I have a surface
18:31
Speaker 1: book too. The screen comes off and I can use
18:33
Speaker 1: it to read at night. I have a surface go
18:35
Speaker 1: in fact, it's on the table right now. It works
18:38
Speaker 1: like an iPad, or it works like a laptop. However,
18:43
Speaker 1: I think that no one's going to keep up with
18:46
Speaker 1: the innovation that's happening at Apple. Their innovation is useful.
18:51
Speaker 1: The iPhone is an incredibly useful tool, and I can
18:55
Speaker 1: see within the matter of a few years, I'm going
18:57
Speaker 1: to have an iPad pro that I'm going to use
19:00
Speaker 1: for travel, and then I'll have some monster Apple machine
19:03
Speaker 1: that I'll use for image and video edit.
19:06
Speaker 2: When I'm back at the office and I think, while
19:08
Speaker 2: we're talking about electronics, I always love to bring out
19:11
Speaker 2: Google Fi. I still have a Google Fi number, although
19:15
Speaker 2: my primary number I did move to Verizon just because
19:18
Speaker 2: where we're we live in Prescott, the service or coverage,
19:22
Speaker 2: it's just better coverage. But overseas, Google Fi is flawless.
19:26
Speaker 2: It's twenty dollars a month. Your phone works everywhere, you know.
19:29
Speaker 2: I have to say that. I think your phone is
19:32
Speaker 2: one of the most important travel tools. It's how we
19:36
Speaker 2: use do everything. It's how we navigate. Think about like
19:39
Speaker 2: ten years ago, when you're traveling and you fly and
19:43
Speaker 2: let's just say Tokyo, because there's not a lot of English,
19:47
Speaker 2: it's relatively hard to get around if you don't have
19:49
Speaker 2: the information at your fingertips, how do you get around?
19:52
Speaker 2: It's different now, it's just like you fly in oh Uber,
19:55
Speaker 2: pick me up, OH Hotel, Okay, sweet, follow the map,
19:58
Speaker 2: it's there. It's so many things and one so I
20:01
Speaker 2: think having a phone that works and having service on it,
20:03
Speaker 2: the phone's only as good as the service. You know. Arguably,
20:07
Speaker 2: like Wi Fi is ubiquitous. It's everywhere, But is it
20:11
Speaker 2: going to stay that way? It's days or numbered five
20:14
Speaker 2: g will replace that, and then eventually satellites will replace that. Yeah,
20:18
Speaker 2: and we're just going to have it everywhere.
20:19
Speaker 1: We're going to be in the middle of the Gobi
20:21
Speaker 1: Desert and have have coverage.
20:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tesla Internet that's coming from the sky. Yeah, all
20:27
Speaker 2: of that technology enables travel.
20:30
Speaker 1: It's it's I have had the tendency to wanna approach
20:35
Speaker 1: things as a ludite because you think about the days
20:39
Speaker 1: gone by, and you think about the fact that people
20:42
Speaker 1: crossed the Sahara in very simple vehicles and they had
20:46
Speaker 1: none of this technology, and in some ways, I think
20:48
Speaker 1: they had.
20:49
Speaker 2: A better experience. It's more romantic. In other ways, femails
20:52
Speaker 2: aren't pinging you in the middle of nowhere. In other ways,
20:55
Speaker 2: we're now able to work from the road. So technology
20:58
Speaker 2: has allowed me to cont you need to travel and
21:00
Speaker 2: experience the remote areas while I'm still able to stay
21:04
Speaker 2: connected to work. Yeah, you know, and I think USBC
21:08
Speaker 2: is something. You know, it's a small thing, but everything
21:13
Speaker 2: that I can get that's USBC. It means I only
21:15
Speaker 2: have to carry one charger. You know. I have my
21:18
Speaker 2: my little Apple brick thing that comes with the laptop. Well,
21:21
Speaker 2: I have the USB C cable to the iPhone. That's
21:26
Speaker 2: the only cable I really have to carry these days.
21:28
Speaker 2: Pretty much. I like that idea of a standardized charging.
21:33
Speaker 2: It's such a win. It's such a win. Even my
21:35
Speaker 2: Sony camera charges with USBC. Yeah.
21:38
Speaker 1: All of the devices that I carry now, including my
21:40
Speaker 1: charging bricks, everything connects via USBC. The only thing that
21:44
Speaker 1: I have that's nonstandard now is the iPhone requires still
21:50
Speaker 1: the what is it the lightning connection?
21:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean I think the only thing that
21:54
Speaker 2: I have, Myleka, doesn't charge by USBC. I'm hoping that
21:58
Speaker 2: that's in the future. I think that they're they're mirrorless
22:04
Speaker 2: SL two now charges by USB C, which is great,
22:07
Speaker 2: but that you know, the dang Bo's headphones, I I
22:12
Speaker 2: have to have noise canceling headphones if you are a traveler,
22:15
Speaker 2: they're so handy, whether you're in a loud hotel, you're
22:17
Speaker 2: camping campsite is loud, or you're you're camping in a street.
22:23
Speaker 2: I throw those things on. It's just provides a little
22:26
Speaker 2: bit of solace and and.
22:29
Speaker 1: It allows us to get more work done while we're traveling.
22:31
Speaker 1: And if I can be more efficient and have less
22:34
Speaker 1: distractions and get more work done in a smaller amount
22:37
Speaker 1: of time, then it allows me to travel more. And
22:40
Speaker 1: that's really the key the end of the day. So
22:43
Speaker 1: tell us about your camera kit.
22:45
Speaker 2: I'm a camera geek. I mean, listen, like, cameras for
22:50
Speaker 2: me are as much about the experience as they are,
22:53
Speaker 2: you know, the the end image. Everything I have is
22:56
Speaker 2: capable of creating, you know, fantastic imagery. But I do
23:00
Speaker 2: have I guess two setups that I that I will
23:04
Speaker 2: either both carry with me or you know, I'll kind
23:07
Speaker 2: of pick one. I'm a huge like a guy. I
23:10
Speaker 2: like those cameras honestly for a few reasons. I buy
23:15
Speaker 2: the body's secondhand. You know, they're very expensive new, but
23:19
Speaker 2: within a year they lose fifty percent of their value
23:23
Speaker 2: and then they kind of bought them out from there.
23:25
Speaker 2: But the real reason that you you use like a
23:28
Speaker 2: equipment is a lenses they are, They're just they're just fascinating,
23:33
Speaker 2: like in the same way that I think people are
23:35
Speaker 2: into are into watches because of the mechanical nature of
23:38
Speaker 2: them and the engineering and the design, and you know,
23:42
Speaker 2: these lenses are near optical perfection for some of them,
23:46
Speaker 2: and even their imperfections make it charming. Yeah. Yeah, Like
23:49
Speaker 2: I just I just acquired a Sumicron fifty millimeters sorry,
23:54
Speaker 2: assume a lux like a applies a name to the
23:58
Speaker 2: maximum aperture that each of their lenses offers. Suemicron is
24:02
Speaker 2: kind of the gold standard. That's a an F two
24:05
Speaker 2: and and honestly after sue maicron that is optical perfection.
24:10
Speaker 2: Everything from there you're acquiring is just speed and the
24:13
Speaker 2: amount of light that can come into the camera. But
24:14
Speaker 2: I love the for for taking photos of people or
24:20
Speaker 2: cities or culture. I just find it's, you know, it's
24:25
Speaker 2: something that's a little bit larger than your phone obviously
24:27
Speaker 2: in in in depth, but people don't really know what
24:32
Speaker 2: they are still, you know, those who know super understand.
24:37
Speaker 2: But I mean I guess, as you know, you're Sony
24:39
Speaker 2: for example, that's gotten quite a bit smaller. So I
24:43
Speaker 2: think anything that is a dedicated camera these days. Isn't
24:46
Speaker 2: necessarily discreete but I just I just love shooting with them,
24:50
Speaker 2: you know, particularly with my stuff in Southeast Asia. You know,
24:54
Speaker 2: it's easy to you know, turn it to F eleven
24:56
Speaker 2: and kind of hyper focal distance. And the shots that
24:59
Speaker 2: I've gotten that I I just wouldn't be able to get. Yeah,
25:03
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say I wouldn't have been able to get
25:04
Speaker 2: with a cannon or anything, because the cannons, Let's face it,
25:09
Speaker 2: it's a better camera. I mean, it's more versatile, it
25:11
Speaker 2: has auto focus. Sure, I don't know, but the canon
25:16
Speaker 2: for me is more of a work camera. If I actually,
25:18
Speaker 2: if I'm like, Okay, I have to get this shot,
25:20
Speaker 2: there's gonna be a lot of movement. Things are going
25:22
Speaker 2: to be changing. The canon, I guess is what I
25:25
Speaker 2: go for. I'm lucky enough to have two systems, but
25:30
Speaker 2: my like of stuff every day goes up in value.
25:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the strongest argument for it. I mean,
25:36
Speaker 1: watching when you first started buying the like a lenses,
25:40
Speaker 1: you've actually made money on your investment.
25:42
Speaker 2: Like quite a bit of money on some of the stuff.
25:45
Speaker 2: You know, you get into these, and I don't know
25:47
Speaker 2: how much it is the case today, much like air
25:51
Speaker 2: cooled Porsches. You know, you used to be able to
25:52
Speaker 2: buy them for five ten thousand dollars and now they're
25:54
Speaker 2: one hundred. But there were some kind of odd balls
25:57
Speaker 2: in the lineup that weren't desirable to the collectors that
26:00
Speaker 2: just wanted the very best. They wanted the some Alux.
26:02
Speaker 2: They wanted the knock DeLux, which is a point ninety five, yeah,
26:06
Speaker 2: which is crazy. So when I was younger, I just,
26:10
Speaker 2: you know, instead of buying the you know, the three
26:13
Speaker 2: or four hundred dollars cannon lens that would have been
26:15
Speaker 2: worth nothing down the road. I guess I was just
26:20
Speaker 2: lucky enough to invest in these and kind of have
26:23
Speaker 2: always bought and sold and have kind of worked my
26:26
Speaker 2: way up and made it a little bit of a hobby.
26:28
Speaker 2: I guess.
26:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, like a savings account that you can use and
26:34
Speaker 1: take pleasure in every day, exactly in art perspective. And
26:37
Speaker 1: I guess there's other things too that we use every
26:40
Speaker 1: day that can be an investment. We talked a little
26:43
Speaker 1: bit about watches before we started recording, and there are
26:48
Speaker 1: watches that are investment grade, and they're not only investment grade,
26:52
Speaker 1: but they have universal value.
26:54
Speaker 2: Globally, So if you're.
26:56
Speaker 1: Somewhere in Russia or you're somewhere in in Africa and
27:01
Speaker 1: you need to get out of jail card, oftentimes the
27:05
Speaker 1: right kind of watch will do that so you can.
27:07
Speaker 1: Because when we travel, there are limitations on what we
27:10
Speaker 1: can carry in currency, and even getting close to those
27:14
Speaker 1: limits straws a lot of suspicion. But if you have
27:18
Speaker 1: a watch like let's say, for example, you have a
27:21
Speaker 1: Rolex GMT or a Rolex Submariner on your wrist, they're
27:26
Speaker 1: a little more understated. They're not you know, don't get
27:29
Speaker 1: the gold one. Get one that looks a little Never
27:31
Speaker 1: travel with a gold watch.
27:33
Speaker 2: People that is just asking for one, people are going
27:36
Speaker 2: to think it's fake, and two people are going to.
27:38
Speaker 1: Think you're a moron or or or they're going to think,
27:41
Speaker 1: you know, let's take this guy's half, this guy's arm
27:44
Speaker 1: off to get it. Whereas if you do wear a
27:48
Speaker 1: more understated watch from a company like Rolex, you have
27:53
Speaker 1: that get out of jail free card on your wrist
27:56
Speaker 1: at all times. So if you need to get that
27:58
Speaker 1: emergency flight home, or something crazy happens with your vehicle
28:03
Speaker 1: and you just don't have access to enough cash or
28:06
Speaker 1: it's difficult to get access to cash, any of those
28:09
Speaker 1: kinds of scenarios that watch can Any jeweler in the
28:12
Speaker 1: world will buy a Rolex, right, I mean, you may
28:15
Speaker 1: not get top dollar for it, but you're going to
28:16
Speaker 1: be able to translate that watch into cash very quickly
28:19
Speaker 1: in most countries of the world. And there's also that
28:23
Speaker 1: pleasure again, like theka of owning something that is analog.
28:28
Speaker 2: Yes, and the whole thing is just fascinating. Like I'm
28:30
Speaker 2: I'm not a huge watch guy. You know my jewelry,
28:35
Speaker 2: I guess is my like a camera collection. But looking
28:39
Speaker 2: at the Rolex stuff like a GMT Master is like
28:43
Speaker 2: nine thousand dollars new, but you can't find a used
28:47
Speaker 2: one for under twelve thousand dollars. And if you just
28:50
Speaker 2: if you're able to find a new one, buy it
28:54
Speaker 2: and you can sell it for like twice the money
28:56
Speaker 2: as a new item travel for a while. That's there's
28:59
Speaker 2: some interesting advice, but you can't find them. They're they're
29:02
Speaker 2: very difficult to find. If you go into most role
29:05
Speaker 2: X stores, there's super limited usually the stuff that people
29:09
Speaker 2: don't want to buy, but that standard GMT or Submariner
29:13
Speaker 2: or Explorer. Those watches really can be investment grade less
29:17
Speaker 2: so now, but if you bought one five years ago,
29:20
Speaker 2: you've really seen an increase in value. But it's nice
29:22
Speaker 2: to know that you can buy something and enjoy it
29:25
Speaker 2: for a lifetime and then give it to your kids
29:28
Speaker 2: and they're going to enjoy it for a lifetime. These
29:29
Speaker 2: are these are really special tools for travel, I think,
29:34
Speaker 2: and consistent with what you've done with Alika. Yeah, and
29:37
Speaker 2: you kind of brought up an interesting point with it
29:40
Speaker 2: being a bit of a way to transfer currency or
29:43
Speaker 2: to have something on your on your arm that you
29:46
Speaker 2: can sell. There are countries that will actually kind of
29:48
Speaker 2: limit the amount of jewelry and things that you bring
29:51
Speaker 2: in where you have to have a carnae, you to
29:52
Speaker 2: have a carne for it.
29:53
Speaker 1: Sometimes but typically not the watch, like if you got
29:56
Speaker 1: just the one that kind of flies through.
29:57
Speaker 2: But I have heard, you know, I've actually had what
30:00
Speaker 2: happened to me again going into Australia with camera gear.
30:02
Speaker 2: They're like, oh, why are you bringing this camera gear?
30:04
Speaker 2: Do you have proof of it? And eventually they realized, like,
30:08
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not selling it right, I'm not there
30:11
Speaker 2: to do that. But that is something I guess. To
30:13
Speaker 2: keep in mind with this.
30:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you come in with a big Pelican case
30:15
Speaker 1: full of camera gear and lenses, it's definitely an issue.
30:18
Speaker 1: So I guess on my camera. I shot Cannon Forever,
30:23
Speaker 1: and I loved the Cannon setup, but it was so big.
30:27
Speaker 1: I had a five D with that twenty eight to
30:31
Speaker 1: three hundred on it. I pretty much left that lens
30:33
Speaker 1: bolted on that camera for seven continents of travel. But
30:38
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do was get to something that
30:41
Speaker 1: was much more compact for use on the motorcycle, and
30:44
Speaker 1: so I went with the Sony A seven R three
30:48
Speaker 1: and the A seven to three so that I have
30:51
Speaker 1: some redundancy on the bodies. And then I started off
30:54
Speaker 1: with the Sony zooms and I ended up just not
30:57
Speaker 1: being very happy with them. They have a twenty four
30:59
Speaker 1: to two four that by the time I was done
31:02
Speaker 1: with a trip to Australia, the lens was smoked and
31:04
Speaker 1: I didn't get a single sharp image to my standards
31:08
Speaker 1: out of it. So I started buying the Zeiss Baddest
31:11
Speaker 1: line of primes. It was supposed to be great prime lenses,
31:15
Speaker 1: and I use an eighty five millimeter most of the time.
31:19
Speaker 1: I have a forty millimeter for it as well. Also
31:22
Speaker 1: have an eighteen, but I find that I hardly ever
31:25
Speaker 1: use the eighteen because now my iPhone has a wide
31:29
Speaker 1: angle lens, and most of the time I don't need
31:31
Speaker 1: this ultimate image quality out of a wide angle shot.
31:34
Speaker 1: I'm shooting the inside of a building or I'm shooting
31:36
Speaker 1: the inside of a car, and it's not like I'm
31:39
Speaker 1: shooting that beautiful, last forever portrait of somebody.
31:43
Speaker 2: I just use the phone. I remember when we were
31:45
Speaker 2: in Greece and we were at like the Parthenon or something,
31:47
Speaker 2: and here I am like, you know, like I'm having
31:49
Speaker 2: my experience with mylecas and that's what I like about them.
31:53
Speaker 2: And then you know, I'm looking through my images and like,
31:55
Speaker 2: look at this phone. Look at what I just got
31:56
Speaker 2: with my new iPhone eleven whatever something promax thing. I'm like,
32:03
Speaker 2: I know, it was so annoying. Yeah, Like here I
32:06
Speaker 2: am with I'm holding a car in my hands of
32:09
Speaker 2: imaging equipment, and the iPhone's just so good. They're really
32:14
Speaker 2: they're really good, and I use the I do use
32:16
Speaker 2: the iPhone eleven Pro Max because it has three different
32:20
Speaker 2: focal lengths. You can shoot in raw there are some
32:23
Speaker 2: great apps that allow you some manual control over over
32:27
Speaker 2: the images in including what comes with the iPhone standard
32:30
Speaker 2: for applications. But I do find that I now only
32:33
Speaker 2: use the iPhone for white angle shots, and I don't
32:35
Speaker 2: bring the white angle lens with me, So I focus
32:38
Speaker 2: on having that forty milimeter which is the walkaround lens,
32:42
Speaker 2: and then the eighty five, which is what I do
32:43
Speaker 2: for portraits.
32:45
Speaker 1: And then if I'm going to Africa where I'm going
32:47
Speaker 1: to be shooting animal taking photographs of animals, then I
32:50
Speaker 1: have a one hundred to four hundred sons.
32:52
Speaker 2: I have that one hundred and four hundred for the cannon,
32:54
Speaker 2: and it's just it's just great. It just works, works awesome.
32:56
Speaker 2: It's it's close enough to not get eaten. Yeah, I
32:59
Speaker 2: also allow a little bit wide. Yeah, I wonder how
33:02
Speaker 2: many generations we are of iPhone development or phone development
33:07
Speaker 2: before I go and I say, why do I even
33:12
Speaker 2: why do I even bring this like a for street photography?
33:15
Speaker 2: You know, I touched on it earlier, you know, particularly
33:18
Speaker 2: when you're shooting culture or people or in cities or
33:21
Speaker 2: things like that, which as travelers we find ourselves in
33:23
Speaker 2: quite a bit. It's not all just remote stuff. Any
33:27
Speaker 2: camera these days draws awareness if you if you pull
33:31
Speaker 2: up just a irregular cell phone, people just walk by
33:34
Speaker 2: because I notice a cell phone. I don't know, I'm
33:38
Speaker 2: interested in some of those, you know, like as partner,
33:40
Speaker 2: I think you say it wow weih okay? Why? Yeah? Whatever?
33:45
Speaker 2: The one that our president has banned from the US.
33:48
Speaker 2: They're supposed to have some like forty fifty megapixel like
33:52
Speaker 2: cameras with a like optical zoom, And I wonder how
33:56
Speaker 2: far off we are from seeing optical zoom in a
33:59
Speaker 2: in an I phone.
34:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, they'll find out some way to do it, and
34:02
Speaker 1: the sensor can get large enough and next thing, it's
34:05
Speaker 1: just a technology problem now, which is something that they
34:08
Speaker 1: will solve.
34:09
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Luggage. I'm a huge fan of these North
34:13
Speaker 2: Faced Duffel bags, only because I bought them at TJ
34:15
Speaker 2: Max like fifteen years ago, and they've just never really
34:18
Speaker 2: given me a reason to look elsewhere. They last forever.
34:23
Speaker 2: They just work. I mean, I don't know how many
34:25
Speaker 2: hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles I've
34:28
Speaker 2: flown and travel and driven, and how many roof racks
34:31
Speaker 2: they've been strapped to on the top I love the
34:35
Speaker 2: Duffel bags for traveling, but I have to say I
34:39
Speaker 2: was that guy that got really tired of like even
34:42
Speaker 2: though these things have like the luggage, you know, the
34:45
Speaker 2: backpack straps on them, Eventually that gets old when you're
34:48
Speaker 2: going through a lot of airports. I don't know.
34:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I tend to carry most of my electronics in.
34:57
Speaker 1: There's a new Pelican Air that I've made using and
35:01
Speaker 1: it's a lot lighter, so you're not taking up so
35:03
Speaker 1: much of your available poundage in the luggage itself. So
35:07
Speaker 1: I tend to use a Pelican Air for all the electronics,
35:11
Speaker 1: camera gear, etc. And then I will put some kind
35:14
Speaker 1: of a Duffel on top of it so then I
35:16
Speaker 1: can wheel it around and I use. I like the
35:19
Speaker 1: red Ox bags a lot. They're made in the United States.
35:22
Speaker 1: They will last a lifetime. The only limitation with them
35:26
Speaker 1: is weather, so they're not weather sealed, and in that
35:29
Speaker 1: case I'll use Ether, which is a pretty cool brand
35:33
Speaker 1: out of California. They did a bunch of welded seam
35:38
Speaker 1: waterproof zipper bags. So I have a little backpack that
35:41
Speaker 1: I use from them, and I have a small Duffel
35:43
Speaker 1: that I use from them, and I've probably got more
35:45
Speaker 1: air miles on those two than I do any of
35:47
Speaker 1: my other choices.
35:48
Speaker 2: But I either use red Ox.
35:50
Speaker 1: When I'm in the vehicle when I'm in a vehicle,
35:52
Speaker 1: and I tend to use the ether stuff when I'm traveling.
35:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I do have kind of a go to,
35:59
Speaker 2: you know, Duffel for weather. A good buddy of mine,
36:01
Speaker 2: Jeremy willmack up until your ide turned me onto watershed.
36:05
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, those are nice. Yeah, they're you know, they're
36:07
Speaker 2: made for kayaks and river trips and that kind of thing.
36:10
Speaker 2: That's another one of those things that I've had for
36:12
Speaker 2: nearly I probably had it for eight or nine years.
36:16
Speaker 2: And what's most impressive to me is that it's maintained
36:20
Speaker 2: its air tightness. It's water tightness through through air travel.
36:24
Speaker 2: Like I always say, like there's probably no better test
36:28
Speaker 2: for the durability of a material than send it through
36:32
Speaker 2: checked luggage. Like you don't you don't know what's happening.
36:34
Speaker 2: It's getting pinched, it's a little hit, it's getting poked,
36:37
Speaker 2: whatever's in it wants to come out. What's what's kind
36:40
Speaker 2: of cool with that is is I'll fill it up
36:42
Speaker 2: with air and then you roll it tight, tightly closed,
36:45
Speaker 2: and you can kind of strap it down to where
36:47
Speaker 2: at least on the ground when it's getting loaded it's
36:49
Speaker 2: almost pressurized. Sure, that obviously goes away with altitude changes
36:53
Speaker 2: and it's not air tight, but for that initial like
36:57
Speaker 2: it's getting shoved down into the system, I don't know,
37:00
Speaker 2: maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to isn't it like
37:02
Speaker 2: a It's almost like a like a hYP ziplock kind
37:06
Speaker 2: of seal, and then you roll it up it is.
37:08
Speaker 2: It is cool. You have to be careful to you
37:11
Speaker 2: do have to put some kind of lubricant on that
37:13
Speaker 2: that seal, otherwise it'll get a little bit a little
37:16
Speaker 2: bit dried out. But with regular maintenance, those things have
37:18
Speaker 2: been great. And I have to say I did switch
37:23
Speaker 2: to a carry on for you know, when we're doing
37:25
Speaker 2: these press trips or you know, we're flying somewhere. I'm
37:28
Speaker 2: flying somewhere and I know that you know, a large
37:32
Speaker 2: portion of it is going to be in transit. I
37:36
Speaker 2: bought one of those Rimowa suitcases a while ago. I
37:39
Speaker 2: know now they've been like acquired by Louis Vuitton or
37:42
Speaker 2: something that's not that wasn't my interest in it. My
37:45
Speaker 2: interest in it is that for you know, fifty or
37:47
Speaker 2: sixty or seventy years, people have been using these things
37:50
Speaker 2: because they're an aluminum suitcase, so they're well sealed. They're
37:54
Speaker 2: well sealed, they actually have an O ring around the edges,
37:57
Speaker 2: they have locks built into them. They're just high quality.
38:01
Speaker 2: I got tired of every year having to buy a
38:04
Speaker 2: new one hundred to two hundred dollars carry on suitcase.
38:09
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, this thing was maybe seven
38:11
Speaker 2: hundred bucks or something end of the time I bought it,
38:13
Speaker 2: which is a lot of money. But when you're somebody
38:15
Speaker 2: that travels hundreds of thousands of miles a year, I've
38:18
Speaker 2: already had it for a few years and it's already
38:20
Speaker 2: paid for itself. Yeah, and any dents that it gets
38:24
Speaker 2: or just adds character to it. It just it's like
38:26
Speaker 2: a badge of honor on those things, you know. I
38:29
Speaker 2: just I like them to have. Well, mainly the thing
38:32
Speaker 2: that I like is just that built in that built
38:34
Speaker 2: in locking system. And I know that you can get
38:36
Speaker 2: that on a lot of things, but I feel that
38:39
Speaker 2: it is quite secure. You know, it is a it's aluminum,
38:42
Speaker 2: it's not a it's not can't cut it with a knife,
38:44
Speaker 2: you can't just cut it open. I don't know. I
38:49
Speaker 2: those are a nice way to go.
38:50
Speaker 1: And it's another thing like like Theliko, where they don't
38:53
Speaker 1: really go down in value.
38:54
Speaker 2: So if you sell it five years later used, yeah,
38:57
Speaker 2: you maybe lost thirty percent of the value. I think.
38:59
Speaker 2: I think they sell for nearly double of what I
39:02
Speaker 2: paid for mine or something, so you probably it's probably again,
39:05
Speaker 2: probably it's probably gone up in value. And that's like
39:07
Speaker 2: the crazy thing these days. There's so much money in
39:09
Speaker 2: the world, and arguably, you know, things are a bit unfair,
39:15
Speaker 2: but people are paying double the price of a new
39:18
Speaker 2: Rolex ya just just just to get it before somebody else.
39:21
Speaker 1: Like.
39:22
Speaker 2: But I think as a traveler, if you're you know,
39:24
Speaker 2: if you're smart with your money, you know, you turn
39:27
Speaker 2: those consumable items into something that's going to one just
39:31
Speaker 2: give you a more pleasurable experience as the end user,
39:34
Speaker 2: and then you end up with something that is maybe
39:36
Speaker 2: worth more down the road if you ever have to
39:38
Speaker 2: sell it. And it seems like that's worked well for you.
39:40
Speaker 1: And there's other people in the industry like John Lee
39:42
Speaker 1: from Expedition Exchange. He's always purchased these things that have
39:47
Speaker 1: future likely future value increases. I don't think he does
39:51
Speaker 1: it for the great reason, but he but he has
39:53
Speaker 1: timed those things and he's so he's been able to
39:56
Speaker 1: enjoy these items for decades and then if he does
39:59
Speaker 1: sell him he's actually a profit on it instead of
40:01
Speaker 1: it needing to go to the good will.
40:02
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, exactly, And I think, you know, again,
40:06
Speaker 2: I always say I cannot afford to buy things twice.
40:09
Speaker 2: You know, I'm lucky to be able to afford the
40:11
Speaker 2: nice thing once, but I don't want to buy it again. Yeah,
40:14
Speaker 2: and it takes time. I don't think that's good for
40:16
Speaker 2: the world. I don't. I don't. We're all consumerss, but
40:21
Speaker 2: I think by once cry once has always been a
40:24
Speaker 2: really strong thing for me. So in your what are
40:28
Speaker 2: the things in your truck? What are those little hacks?
40:30
Speaker 2: Rice cooker, that's that's been my latest thing. We for
40:34
Speaker 2: whatever reason, we eat a lot of rice like it's filling.
40:36
Speaker 2: It's it's a you know, it's that starchy thing that
40:38
Speaker 2: you need in your life. So we bought this twelve
40:41
Speaker 2: this twelve rice cooker on Amazon. You know, it was
40:45
Speaker 2: like the only one available, but it works. You know,
40:49
Speaker 2: we've probably used it I don't know ten or fifteen times,
40:53
Speaker 2: and it's like, you know, for our well, we're now
40:56
Speaker 2: releasing this on YouTube with cameras. It's this big. And
41:00
Speaker 2: what we do is we just put the rice that
41:02
Speaker 2: we would have normally carried, you know, and would have
41:06
Speaker 2: inevitably found a way to get out and coat the
41:09
Speaker 2: inside of your drawers in rice. It's now secure and
41:13
Speaker 2: it's in there. And you know, we have a pretty
41:17
Speaker 2: substantial lithium battery that can run it in that vehicle.
41:21
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean it's once it heats up. Yeah,
41:26
Speaker 2: I don't think he uses a huge amount of electricity.
41:28
Speaker 2: But but love love love that. I just use tasty bites,
41:31
Speaker 2: tasty bite rice, you see instant rice. I'm not French,
41:36
Speaker 2: but what I love and and have kind of stolen
41:38
Speaker 2: from the French is the food. Like, what is the
41:40
Speaker 2: point of life if you're not eating? Well, like I
41:43
Speaker 2: stucking to this one guy who's like, which mountain house
41:45
Speaker 2: do you eat? And I'm like never? What? Like, Laura,
41:51
Speaker 2: if you're listening, I love your food. I don't actually cook.
41:55
Speaker 2: I am I am clueless, but I'm lucky. And another
41:59
Speaker 2: reason why you're very lucky to have Laura in your life. Yeah, yeah,
42:02
Speaker 2: of many reasons. But we also have this little Snowpeak
42:07
Speaker 2: cutting board. It's like a you know, maybe it's eighteen
42:11
Speaker 2: inches by ten inches. It's not huge as far as
42:14
Speaker 2: the cutting board goes. But the fascinating thing with it
42:17
Speaker 2: has a cutout and a magnet for this snowpeak knife
42:19
Speaker 2: that's included. And I've had one of those. I've had
42:23
Speaker 2: multiple versions of them. They get left somewhere or whatnot,
42:28
Speaker 2: but love those things. It keeps the knife safe when
42:31
Speaker 2: it's bouncing around. It's not like it's bouncing around getting dull.
42:35
Speaker 2: And they're really good value. I think they're fairly inexpensive.
42:38
Speaker 2: Forty bucks, yeah, which I think some people would say
42:42
Speaker 2: is a lot for a knife that they can get.
42:43
Speaker 2: But it's again one of those things that should last
42:46
Speaker 2: a lifetime, should last a long time. Anything else, anything else.
42:50
Speaker 2: You've got your little hacks in the truck, you know.
42:53
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan with drawers. A lot of people
42:56
Speaker 2: will put in my I will say, as travelers will
43:01
Speaker 2: put their recovery gear or their their tools and that
43:06
Speaker 2: kind of stuff, they always put them in the drawers.
43:09
Speaker 2: I think the opposite way. My experience has told me
43:16
Speaker 2: that I spend less time unstuck than I do stuck.
43:19
Speaker 2: I spend less time not working on my car than
43:22
Speaker 2: I do working on my car. And that the convenience
43:25
Speaker 2: for all of you know, the convenience that I really
43:28
Speaker 2: get from the drawers is I love using packing cubes
43:32
Speaker 2: to put my clothes in the drawer. It's like having
43:34
Speaker 2: it in your kitchen gear too, in our kitchen. So
43:37
Speaker 2: one side's basically, you know, food. We do carry a
43:41
Speaker 2: lot of cooking stuff with us because we like to
43:44
Speaker 2: eat well. And then you know, the right side drawer,
43:49
Speaker 2: you know, we each have. You know, maybe I want
43:51
Speaker 2: to say the drawers are I should know this, I
43:55
Speaker 2: don't know. They're eighteen inches twenty inches wide, and we
43:58
Speaker 2: kind of give ourselves a twenty by twenty section in
44:01
Speaker 2: each one of those things. And we use these packing cubes.
44:04
Speaker 2: And it just makes life better on the road when
44:06
Speaker 2: you when you're going for a while, you know where
44:08
Speaker 2: everything is easy to access it. If you're going to
44:11
Speaker 2: stay in a hotel or you're gonna stay with friends,
44:15
Speaker 2: you just you pull a few packing cubes out and
44:17
Speaker 2: you go. I find when you're when you're just living
44:21
Speaker 2: out of a Duffel bag. How much time do you
44:24
Speaker 2: spend like, Okay, well where's the clean underwear? And you're
44:28
Speaker 2: just like rummaging around this bag. You're looking for the
44:31
Speaker 2: lost sock. Where I know where my sock is. I
44:34
Speaker 2: know where my underwear are, I know where my you
44:36
Speaker 2: know all the essentials, you know, and and then you
44:40
Speaker 2: can have a laundry bag. I think having a laundry
44:42
Speaker 2: bag for traveling is just so handy, really important, you know.
44:47
Speaker 2: I guess I guess my stuff is is less. You know,
44:52
Speaker 2: we've talked about the recovery gear before and that that
44:55
Speaker 2: kind of thing. You know. I love to have an
44:57
Speaker 2: iPad with me. Then Netflix app you can download offline,
45:03
Speaker 2: you know, so like, let's be honest, Like there's definitely
45:06
Speaker 2: those nights when you're traveling where everything goes right and
45:09
Speaker 2: you're you know, you have this beautiful sunset and you
45:12
Speaker 2: have a margarita and you're on the beach and you
45:14
Speaker 2: just fall asleep peacefully. And then sometimes there's those nights
45:17
Speaker 2: where you know, you're campaign in a campground because that's
45:21
Speaker 2: all that's available, and some dude next to you is
45:23
Speaker 2: goes generator running, got a generator running or whatever, So
45:26
Speaker 2: I stuck velcro in the back of my iPad and
45:28
Speaker 2: I stick it on the ceiling of my at summit.
45:32
Speaker 2: And I don't know, I watch Rick and Morty to
45:33
Speaker 2: Fall Asleep or something like or Frasier Big on those
45:38
Speaker 2: nineties sitcoms. I don't know, just just little hacks. I mean,
45:42
Speaker 2: most of my stuff that that I preay it different.
45:44
Speaker 2: So it's based around comfort, it's based around longevity. This
45:48
Speaker 2: is uh, this isn't a sprint for us. We've been
45:50
Speaker 2: traveling overland on and off several months a year for
45:56
Speaker 2: a while, almost almost a decade. So I like the
46:00
Speaker 2: little those little niceties. It just make things easier.
46:02
Speaker 1: And I find that the more that I reduce my kit,
46:05
Speaker 1: the happier I am as a traveler. So I just
46:07
Speaker 1: keep eliminating things. And there's a couple a couple items
46:11
Speaker 1: that come to mind that I that I didn't talk about.
46:14
Speaker 1: I've recently gone to all of the this nomad gear.
46:18
Speaker 1: So they happen to be subscribers to Overland Journal. They
46:22
Speaker 1: they run a company out of California, and they make
46:25
Speaker 1: these super durable iPhone cables. They make super durable USBC cables,
46:30
Speaker 1: these little power bricks, these little charging pads for your
46:34
Speaker 1: phone and your watch, and I've just completely moved over
46:37
Speaker 1: to their kit because none of those cables fail on me.
46:39
Speaker 2: They're really really nice.
46:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, always freight at the ends these things, and they
46:44
Speaker 1: all have straps integrated so you can tie them up
46:47
Speaker 1: and and they've got different lengths. So yeah, Like they're
46:51
Speaker 1: not a supporter or advertiser. I just really like their
46:53
Speaker 1: gear and they it's the little things like that.
46:56
Speaker 2: It makes a huge difference. Like we went back through
46:59
Speaker 2: a poof after the land rover thing and Namibia and
47:03
Speaker 2: trying to find an iPhone cable. Yeah, impossible. Actually it
47:07
Speaker 2: was really easy. That was what I will with that.
47:08
Speaker 2: But but the point being that, like I had to
47:10
Speaker 2: take an hour of my life to like try and
47:13
Speaker 2: find a little electronics store and that's cool. You found
47:16
Speaker 2: it was cool, but you know, because everybody has smartphones. Yeah,
47:20
Speaker 2: but still the point being that it's nice to just
47:23
Speaker 2: have something if you're in if you're in that country
47:27
Speaker 2: for two, three, four weeks. In five years, are you
47:31
Speaker 2: going to think that it is memorable to buy a
47:34
Speaker 2: new phone cable? Sure? That was That was an hour
47:36
Speaker 2: that I'll never get back. Yeah, that was an hour
47:39
Speaker 2: that meant we didn't get to the campsite that we liked.
47:41
Speaker 1: Sure, I don't know, And it's been fun for me
47:44
Speaker 1: to see my all my electronics just keep eating smaller
47:47
Speaker 1: and smaller and smaller. It all fits in a small
47:49
Speaker 1: backpack now, so many fewer cables because everything's becoming standardized.
47:54
Speaker 1: So when we think about every day, carry ask the
47:57
Speaker 1: question what can I get rid of? What can I consolidate?
48:00
Speaker 1: What can be a multi use item? Because the less
48:04
Speaker 1: stuff that we have with us, the fewer things we lose,
48:06
Speaker 1: the less money we even invested in them to begin with,
48:10
Speaker 1: and then we end up with a lot more enjoyable trip.
48:14
Speaker 2: Well thanks for all those ideas, Matt. Yes, I don't know.
48:16
Speaker 2: I mean again, I like to be really practical with
48:20
Speaker 2: my stuff. I'm not saying don't take recovery gear. I'm
48:22
Speaker 2: not saying don't do all of those things. But I
48:24
Speaker 2: guess what I'm what I what I love to tell
48:27
Speaker 2: people is bring some things that are actually for you,
48:30
Speaker 2: you know, your life a little bit. We have like
48:32
Speaker 2: a little fan in the jeep. That fan is probably
48:35
Speaker 2: our most loved thing when it's eighty degrees at night. Sure,
48:38
Speaker 2: you know, like a little little spray bottle. Don't forget
48:42
Speaker 2: about yourself. I guess that's all I'm saying. When it
48:44
Speaker 2: when it comes to the that's what everybody carries all
48:47
Speaker 2: about exactly. Well, thank you all for listening, and we
48:49
Speaker 2: will talk to you next time.