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Camper Van Travel, The Best Coffee & Travel Chat with James from Winging It Travel · Travel Mug Podcast

• 0:00
  Jenn: Hello everyone and welcome back to the travel mug podcast this week we are joined by James Hammond, Finally, we've been talking about this forever, of Winging It Travel.
• 0:12
  Jenn: So, we've met on Instagram, in our little, uh, travel podcast community, which I love.
• 0:19
  Jenn: So, you have a podcast and a YouTube channel as well.
• 0:23
  Jenn: So, James is based in Vancouver, Canada, right now, and has visited over 70 countries, and has been working and traveling since 2013.
• 0:33
  Jenn: Which is not yesterday now.
• 0:38
  James: Unfortunately not.
• 0:38
  Jenn: We're so excited to have you on the show.
• 0:40
  Jenn: Welcome, James.
• 0:42
  James: Yeah, thanks guys for having me on.
• 0:43
  James: Really appreciate
• 0:43
  Jenn: So like we mentioned, you're currently in Canada, but where are you from originally?
• 0:48
  Jenn: And tell us a bit about growing up there.
• 0:52
  James: I am from Norwich in England.
• 0:54
  James: So, East if you like.
• 0:57
  James: And Norwich is small.
• 1:00
  James: Uh, it's known for being a bit inbred, if you like, from UK people, if you spoke to people from London or Manchester or whatever, they say, oh yeah, that's, that's way over there.
• 1:09
  James: And for them, it's a long way to anywhere, but in reality, it's only two hour drive from London, right?
• 1:15
  James: So it's not that far, but, uh, in Canadian style, it's, it's pretty close, but in
• 1:19
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 1:19
  James: it's pretty
• 1:20
  Meggan: That's just down the road.
• 1:22
  James: Yeah, direct trains and stuff.
• 1:23
  James: So yeah, I, yeah, it's, it's a strange, um, mentality towards Norwich, but yeah, as a place, Because people see it as far away.
• 1:31
  James: It's quite small quiet.
• 1:34
  James: , a lot of people stay don't leave too much Uh what you find in norwich is a lot of people go there to universities But one of the best universities first season uk and then they stay um, I think they quite like the vibe You can fly directly there from like to amsterdam half an hour flight across the water So yeah, a lot of people like to be based there and it's got norfolk broads on the coast about 20 minute drive away So north norfolk, which is the county is got some of the best beaches in uk So yeah, it's kind of well known for, for that a lot of RF bases.
• 2:04
  James: So a lot of air force bases, us and UK and yeah, nice place to be.
• 2:10
  Meggan: Sounds lovely to me.
• 2:13
  Meggan: I mean, if I went, maybe I would stay as well.
• 2:16
  Meggan: didn't.
• 2:17
  Meggan: So, uh, you started working slash traveling in 2013, like we mentioned.
• 2:23
  Meggan: Like, where was this idea born from?
• 2:25
  Meggan: So, had you always been interested in traveling and how many countries had you actually been to up to that point?
• 2:32
  Meggan: So that 2013 timeframe.
• 2:35
  James: I would say before 2011 and the 2010 11, I was not travel focused at all.
• 2:42
  James: I wasn't even a thing, because I come from quite a.
• 2:45
  James: I would say a working class background, like very much so.
• 2:48
  James: So it was never an option traveling when I was younger.
• 2:51
  James: So it never really came into your thoughts more about survival than, more than anything else.
• 2:55
  James: So up until probably 2008, I moved to London to study music, uh, somehow got in through an audition and then London was a big jump.
• 3:07
  James: Uh, I know it is only two hours away, but Norwich, London is like going, uh, I dunno where you guys are.
• 3:12
  James: It's like going from.
• 3:13
  James: Ingonish beach to Halifax.
• 3:16
  James: I don't know, something like that.
• 3:17
  James: It's that big a jump, right?
• 3:18
  James: So it's busier, it's a lot more culture, a lot more going on and more expensive as well.
• 3:24
  James: And I studied music and then halfway through, uh, I was seeing a girl in Norwich actually for the summer and she talked to me about travel and I didn't really know what she meant.
• 3:35
  James: And she explained what it meant in terms of you go away for three months, not just a week and you can go to these different places around the world.
• 3:42
  James: And then that kind of blew my mind.
• 3:44
  James: And then I booked a trip to Australia at the end of 2010, and 2011, start of 2011 to go and watch the cricket, and I couldn't believe Australia existed.
• 3:53
  James: Blew my mind.
• 3:54
  James: And that's when it really started, I think.
• 3:56
  Jenn: You really went far for your, uh, first trip there.
• 3:59
  Jenn: Just kind of went for it.
• 4:00
  James: Yeah, Because I think, I think up to that point, I think you asked how many countries, probably six or seven?
• 4:05
  James: And most of them, or all of them in Europe, apart from Australia, so Up to 2013.
• 4:11
  James: I went to Ukraine as well in 2012.
• 4:12
  James: Um, we drove there from London.
• 4:15
  James: Uh, via Poland and France.
• 4:17
  James: But yeah, I think most of it was just Europe based and then Australia was the outlier.
• 4:21
  James: And in Australia, I met someone at the cricket who said, Oh, you just book a work visa and come here.
• 4:25
  James: I was like, what do you mean you just come here?
• 4:26
  James: He goes, you can stay here for a year or two and just work.
• 4:28
  James: I was like, oh wow.
• 4:29
  James: So I'm going to do that when I finish my degree.
• 4:31
  James: So that was the plan.
• 4:32
  Jenn: I love that.
• 4:33
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 4:34
  Jenn: It's funny, you know, Growing up in, in Canada and, you know, we don't have easy access to like other countries besides the U.
• 4:44
  Jenn: S.
• 4:45
  Jenn: So, it's so much harder, like, growing up to, um, kind of see different places.
• 4:51
  Jenn: And, I mean, especially for, for us here in the East Coast of Canada, like, Our easy access is the east coast of the U.
• 4:58
  Jenn: S., which, a lot of it is pretty similar to the east coast of Canada, you know, when you're in Maine, it's like, eh, could be Nova Scotia, could be Maine, who knows.
• 5:11
  James: But you are lucky that you do have that east coast part.
• 5:15
  James: I mean, here it's the west coast, right?
• 5:17
  Meggan: Right.
• 5:18
  James: To get to anywhere that's like, if you're looking for a city, it's still a five hour drive down south, right?
• 5:23
  James: To maybe Seattle via the border or Portland.
• 5:27
  James: and all of California is a bit further on, but there's nothing much east.
• 5:33
  James: I mean, we drove it as we've probably come on to and apart from Calgary and the Rockies, which are amazing, by the way, um, you are in the, in the countryside a lot, so at least you
• 5:43
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 5:45
  Jenn: Yes.
• 5:46
  Jenn: All right.
• 5:46
  Jenn: Let's talk about your, your epic road trip.
• 5:48
  Jenn: So Vancouver to Cape Breton.
• 5:52
  Jenn: Is that right?
• 5:53
  Jenn: Like, wow.
• 5:54
  James: Vancouver Island.
• 5:55
  James: Yeah.
• 5:55
  James: Tofino.
• 5:57
  Jenn: I can't, I cannot even imagine, um, as Meggan and I have talked about before, I'm not, a super road trippy person.
• 6:06
  Jenn: Meggan's done quite a few more than I have.
• 6:10
  Jenn: Uh, but tell us about your, your epic road trip adventure.
• 6:15
  Jenn: Where did the idea come from for this?
• 6:20
  James: yeah.
• 6:20
  James: So, you know, during COVID, right.
• 6:21
  James: When we couldn't travel at all.
• 6:23
  James: We actually bought a camper van in that, so I don't know if people remember, but in Canada, well, especially in Vancouver, a lot of like Kiwis, Australians, even Brits were going home.
• 6:32
  James: And that basically means they're getting rid of everything.
• 6:35
  James: And we found this converted camper van.
• 6:37
  James: It's a Toyota Sienna.
• 6:38
  James: So it's like a big people carrier.
• 6:41
  James: Um, probably like a Dodge, maybe if you're American, um, something like that.
• 6:44
  James: And it's converted, right?
• 6:46
  James: So the back had no seats, had a bed, had a cabinet.
• 6:48
  James: I was like, Oh, and we saw this Australian girl.
• 6:51
  James: I just need to sell it.
• 6:52
  James: I was like, okay, and it's like 2, 500 and I, I test drive.
• 6:57
  James: I thought, this, this seems all right.
• 6:59
  James: And we didn't say yes at the start.
• 7:00
  James: And I got on the train.
• 7:00
  James: I was like, Emma, I think we have to say yes to this.
• 7:03
  James: So instantly replied back saying, Hey, look, I think we're a yes.
• 7:06
  James: So we turned back around on the train, went to do the paperwork and yeah, we bought this camper van and we started going around BC in it, doing campsites, doing some road trips, start sleeping in it.
• 7:17
  James: We loved it.
• 7:19
  James: It's a Toyota so easy to fix and then in our minds, we kind of knew we're going to go across Canada someday but not sure when and then we just put a plan in place that 2023 would be the summer of that would be the trip across and we'll probably drive back as well via the US.
• 7:34
  James: So that was kind of 3 years to 2 and a half years in the making.
• 7:38
  James: I think and rough plan was we'll we'll go Vancouver Island because we love it and then we'll go as far east as we can.
• 7:45
  James: We did plan to go to Newfoundland.
• 7:47
  James: But the ferry is too expensive and yeah, and long and Emma gets seasick.
• 7:52
  James: So I think the ferry is
• 7:54
  Jenn: yeah.
• 7:54
  Jenn: That's three strikes yeah.
• 7:58
  James: So basically followed the one went to every national, went to a national park in every, every province as a
• 8:03
  Jenn: Mm hmm.
• 8:03
  James: and then hit all the big cities and lots of campsites, amazing scenery, beaches, lakes, mountains, and it took about.
• 8:14
  James: eight Weeks eight and a half weeks to go across Canada.
• 8:17
  Jenn: Right.
• 8:18
  Jenn: So what was your planning process like?
• 8:20
  Jenn: Like, did you have, like, an itinerary, like, this is where we got to get to this day, or you just kind of go with the flow and see where you get to?
• 8:28
  James: The only set in stone date was my friend was flying to toronto for a wedding I thought i'd be good to see him there.
• 8:34
  James: He's from norwich in uk So I had that day in mind But other than that, it was just where we thought on the map sounded cool and mostly made up But we knew all the big cities, right?
• 8:43
  James: So we knew their reference points um We didn't actually concentrate on the rockies.
• 8:47
  James: Rockies We kind of skipped a little bit I might sound people might be amazed by that But we've done quite a bit of that before so we thought we'll get through that And Yeah, just see where the day goes maybe one day in advance.
• 9:00
  James: We're going here next.
• 9:01
  James: We'll stay here an extra day if we like it, if we don't, we'll go and I really want to see the eastern part if i'm honest.
• 9:07
  James: I want to see like from Kanora in Ontario, which is really nice by the way, east.
• 9:14
  James: I want to see all those cities all those lakes Uh all those little places.
• 9:18
  James: So that's my main idea for me personally.
• 9:21
  James: Um, but yeah, no real plan
• 9:23
  Meggan: Jenn, are you having major
• 9:25
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 9:25
  Meggan: palpitations with no plan?
• 9:27
  Meggan: How are you
• 9:27
  Jenn: couldn't do it.
• 9:28
  Jenn: I could not do it.
• 9:31
  Jenn: That's, uh, I mean, I, I envy people that can, but it's, it's not the life I can live.
• 9:38
  Jenn: I just, I don't know.
• 9:41
  Meggan: I'm somewhere in the middle of you two.
• 9:42
  Meggan: I'm in the middle So I'm not a I'm not, I'm not a James, but I'm not a Jenn flyer.
• 9:47
  Meggan: I can't completely fly by the seat of my own pants either.
• 9:50
  Meggan: So
• 9:52
  James: But halifax is on the list that was a That was a major point because we
• 9:57
  Meggan: you go.
• 9:58
  Meggan: There you go.
• 9:59
  James: to live next, right?
• 9:59
  James: That was part of the
• 10:00
  Jenn: Oh.
• 10:01
  James: Vancouver wasn't always the place to come back to.
• 10:06
  James: So we always planned to stay in the big cities at least three or four days.
• 10:09
  Jenn: Right.
• 10:09
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 10:10
  James: And then yeah in between was just make it
• 10:12
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 10:13
  Meggan: Right.
• 10:14
  Meggan: Right.
• 10:14
  Meggan: Now.
• 10:15
  Meggan: What about highlights and lowlights?
• 10:17
  Meggan: Were there any times where, you know, crazy things happen and you're like, what are we doing?
• 10:22
  Meggan: Were there times where you're like, this is the most amazing things my eyes have ever seen?
• 10:27
  Meggan: Like talk to us about the, the highlight moment and maybe a low light moment.
• 10:31
  James: Well the low like I can start first because I do remember it It's actually quite early on we got to um Osoyoos, Penticton area in bc, which is the desert area right right by the border Uh got all the wineries there and stuff and we realized that our campervan which doesn't have any Aircon
• 10:48
  Jenn: Hmm.
• 10:49
  James: was getting really hot during the day when driving and staying hot in the evening and we're starting to get annoyed and freak out a bit because we can never get cool.
• 10:59
  James: Even if you keep the door open, you gotta be wary of mosquitoes or whatever coming in but also bugs and stuff and there wasn't really a breeze.
• 11:07
  James: There's there's uh fires at that time as well in BC.
• 11:09
  James: So, that was a low point because we're like, oh, can we really do another three and a bit months in this hot camper van that doesn't have air con and when you put the fan on in the car it just blows sort of mild warm air.
• 11:24
  Meggan: Right.
• 11:24
  James: Um, that was a low point but we got through that because I think that was a one off because we didn't really experience warm weather to that degree really for the rest of the trip and high point.
• 11:39
  James: It's gotta be Cape Breton.
• 11:40
  James: Uh I think yeah, PEI or Cape Breton.
• 11:43
  James: One of those two.
• 11:45
  Jenn: I got my Cape Breton mug out today.
• 11:49
  James: The the Cabot Trail is amazing.
• 11:50
  James: That was definitely a highlight.
• 11:52
  James: Uh there's little places and beaches around the around the head there like the trailhead and stuff but I think Prince Edward Island was pretty special as well.
• 12:00
  James: The greenest green you can see the campsites are amazing.
• 12:04
  James: The beaches were incredible as well that side I think that was a little highlight for
• 12:07
  Jenn: Yeah, you, you, this was last summer, summer 2023.
• 12:12
  Jenn: Yeah so you did not visit Nova Scotia in our best summer because it rained every, like all the time.
• 12:20
  Jenn: It was so much rain.
• 12:21
  Jenn: It was so, it was the worst summer of my life that I've ever been here.
• 12:29
  Meggan: It was either fires or rains
• 12:31
  Jenn: it was wild.
• 12:32
  Jenn: So yeah, hopefully you had some dry weather when you were here, but P.
• 12:38
  Jenn: E.
• 12:38
  Jenn: I
• 12:38
  James: really record much rain apart from Halifax that what couple of days it really Really rained but I can't actually recall Much bad weather like last year for me because we went for the whole year, right?
• 12:48
  James: It was just good weather year I never had really any time That was really cold.
• 12:53
  James: Maybe maybe in like the Himalayas, but other than that because you're high up That's the only reason right but for me, it's like a year of summer so even Halifax and Cape Breton, I just kind of remember being like blue skies and Amazing road conditions
• 13:07
  Meggan: Well, good for you, James, because that's not how I remember 2023.
• 13:14
  Meggan: Now you have a podcast, Winging It Travel.
• 13:17
  Meggan: Uh, we mentioned also a YouTube channel.
• 13:20
  Meggan: For the listeners, are those two separate entities for you?
• 13:24
  Meggan: Or do you take the recordings like we do from your podcast and use trip video, which we don't do, to make them accessible to people in a different format?
• 13:34
  Meggan: Like, talk to us about both of those mediums for you.
• 13:37
  James: Yeah, they're separate.
• 13:38
  James: Um, so audio is interview only, um, with the odd set of episode where it's kind of give a travel update or something important in the travel world could be anything, but the interviews are every two weeks cause long format is quite It's quite hard to keep weekly with the amount of editing needs to be done.
• 13:56
  James: So I do every two weeks and I want to give the guests a bit of space.
• 13:59
  James: And I'm going to start repurposing some more content, I think, because I reckon people join quite late, don't they?
• 14:06
  James: They join, they probably find your podcast like, I don't know, 150 episodes in whatever, and So I'm going to start repurposing some more content, like best of, you know, 10 minutes best of.
• 14:16
  James: And then the YouTube is actually all of my trip from last year at the minute.
• 14:20
  James: So I'm re repurposing that in terms of making it like nice and like a 10, 15 minutes worth of video and or photos with a nice little recorded background script behind it that I that I write with my notes that I took from my diary from last year Which I've never written before but I wrote a diary last year and it's coming in handy right now.
• 14:39
  James: So Yeah, so that's every every week .10 15 minutes.
• 14:43
  James: I think i'm on to lebanon right now So i've got my lebanon episode coming up on thursday and I think we Will be okay and well me, my girlfriend kind of helps me produce a little bit But I think we'll be okay until the summer then i'm gonna start getting some new content because the year trip will be up That point because I started last summer with the road trip
• 15:03
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 15:05
  James: uh,
• 15:05
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 15:06
  Jenn: What's, uh, what, I'm always interested, is it, what led to you wanting to start a podcast like a travel podcast?
• 15:15
  James: uh, COVID and couldn't travel
• 15:17
  Jenn: Yeah,
• 15:19
  James: I think you might hear that a lot from travel
• 15:21
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 15:22
  Jenn: We also, we started in June of 2020, although the ball had sort of been rolling before COVID.
• 15:30
  Jenn: Um, I, I had asked Meggan to start a podcast with me on January 1st.
• 15:36
  Jenn: 2020 and then she didn't answer me for a week then she took another month and was like, okay, we can talk about it
• 15:47
  Meggan: I don't like to jump at all my decisions.
• 15:50
  Meggan: I like to ponder things, you know?
• 15:53
  James: I definitely jumped straight in.
• 15:54
  James: I just bought a microphone and recorded on my phone.
• 15:57
  James: Right.
• 15:57
  James: I had a little app on my phone and that was it.
• 15:59
  Meggan: You're like, I'm doing this.
• 16:00
  Meggan: I don't need to think about it.
• 16:03
  James: Yeah.
• 16:03
  James: Got some friends on from my travels before and.
• 16:06
  James: That's how it started really and then yes, that's that's February 2021.
• 16:10
  James: So, it's a bit a bit late in you guys but yeah, it's kind of developed from there and YouTube is quite new but I think I will put a lot of effort into that this year.
• 16:16
  James: I think that's going to be my new strategy if you like.
• 16:20
  Jenn: for sure.
• 16:20
  Jenn: I mean, they're two different Things so it's uh kind of get two different types of people I guess there's some some people would watch or do both Listen and watch and then yeah, it's uh, definitely You know If no one has ever edited anything, they don't realize how time consuming it is.
• 16:45
  Meggan: Very much
• 16:46
  James: last year on my trip, in my back of my mind, I was like, I might do YouTube one day.
• 16:50
  James: So, I made sure a lot of my footage was the lengthways, right?
• 16:53
  James: Landscape.
• 16:54
  James: So, I've got enough to get me by.
• 16:56
  James: I would have been devastated if I had no content to go with but um yeah in the back of my mind, I had it like that in landscapes.
• 17:03
  James: Okay.
• 17:03
  James: So it's just about
• 17:04
  Meggan: thought ahead.
• 17:05
  Meggan: You thought ahead.
• 17:06
  Meggan: One thing I did mean to ask is, obviously, you're not from Canada originally.
• 17:11
  Meggan: You're out in Vancouver.
• 17:12
  Meggan: What are you doing for work?
• 17:14
  Meggan: Like, what, is that your job?
• 17:16
  Meggan: The podcast, the YouTube?
• 17:18
  Meggan: Or what are you actually doing to sort of occupy your time or fund your, your adventures that way?
• 17:23
  James: Uh yeah.
• 17:24
  James: so back in 2013, I went to Australia.
• 17:26
  James: I said I got the work visa.
• 17:28
  James: I've done like an office job for half a year and then I worked on the vineyards for a the season there, which is quite interesting.
• 17:34
  James: I also worked in the mine sites on the kitchens, which was probably the toughest job I've ever done and I probably wouldn't do it again.
• 17:41
  James: Uh twelve hour days fly in fly out.
• 17:43
  James: 17, 18 days on that sort of stuff, but I was desperate for money.
• 17:48
  James: And then that funded the travels.
• 17:51
  James: And then another work visa in New Zealand, uh, office job, this time in government in Wellington that funded more travels.
• 17:58
  James: And then this time around, I started in Canada at a place called stem cell.
• 18:03
  James: Which is a STEM research place again, admin, HR, then I moved to a college and that's where I'm right now and I'm joining them on the IT project.
• 18:13
  James: They're going from paper to digital.
• 18:16
  James: If you like, let's take it.
• 18:17
  James: It's
• 18:17
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 18:18
  James: about five, about five years in.
• 18:20
  James: So I started in that project, took a year out of it to go travel last year for a year.
• 18:25
  James: And now I'm back there doing some it cloud based work.
• 18:29
  James: So that's what I do right now.
• 18:31
  Meggan: excellent.
• 18:32
  Meggan: It's a good insight to sort of what, what possibilities are out there.
• 18:35
  Meggan: It sounds like a variety of things is what you've done.
• 18:37
  Meggan: So that's really cool.
• 18:39
  Meggan: We know you love coffee.
• 18:41
  Meggan: We love coffee.
• 18:43
  Meggan: So talk to us about, you know, where have you found the best coffee so far?
• 18:49
  James: Unbelievable question that.
• 18:51
  James: That is a tough question.
• 18:53
  James: Okay.
• 18:53
  James: New Zealand got me started on coffee.
• 18:55
  James: I'll say that off the bat.
• 18:56
  James: I didn't drink coffee up to that point.
• 18:58
  James: And then Wellington's got quite a good coffee and brunch scene.
• 19:02
  James: So we spent 10 months of that year just going to every brunch place and writing it down and writing a little score out and that had some of the best coffee that I still like today, like Supreme Coffee in New Zealand is great.
• 19:12
  James: It's probably my favorite.
• 19:14
  James: Um, but I think that's a bit biased because that's the first place.
• 19:16
  James: So I think since then, if you had to tell me tomorrow, you're gonna go somewhere and drink coffee.
• 19:21
  James: Where would I go?
• 19:22
  James: I think I'm gonna go somewhere like Verona, probably in Italy.
• 19:27
  James: It's probably got some of the best coffee.
• 19:29
  James: Like Venice had some great coffee.
• 19:31
  James: I know if you get away from the tourist area, I met a person in Venice to do an episode and she's a local.
• 19:36
  James: So she told me a few places.
• 19:37
  James: Uh, so Italian coffee is a bit generic, but that's good.
• 19:40
  James: I do love it there as well.
• 19:42
  James: And I've got to say Australia has quite the coffee as well.
• 19:45
  Jenn: Interesting.
• 19:46
  Meggan: I guess we have to, we have to
• 19:47
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 19:48
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 19:49
  Jenn: I would say up until this point, for me, Iceland had really good coffee and I, I feel like it was the water.
• 19:58
  Jenn: Because like the glacier water I would like, it was so good.
• 20:04
  Jenn: And, um, during Covid, we, my husband and I, um, decided that we were gonna try every independent roastery in Nova Scotia, which I think we did.
• 20:16
  Jenn: I mean, some, you know, got added and maybe we've missed them, but we have tried at least the majority.
• 20:22
  Jenn: And I have to say, I have to give a shout out to Nova Coffee here in Nova Scotia.
• 20:27
  Jenn: They're, they're in the Annapolis Valley, but oh my gosh, it's a blend called Mariner's Cove.
• 20:33
  Jenn: It is my favorite coffee in the world.
• 20:35
  Jenn: It is so delicious.
• 20:37
  Jenn: So, yeah, I, uh, we, that's, we drink every single morning here at our house, and sometimes when we travel, it's a disappointment.
• 20:47
  Meggan: Yeah,
• 20:47
  James: good point about the water though.
• 20:48
  James: Great point.
• 20:50
  James: So here, here is pretty good.
• 20:51
  James: I think that's because the water is pretty good, right?
• 20:53
  James: From the mountains.
• 20:54
  James: That's not a bad point, but then to counterpoint that I went to Oman last year and Oman had the best coffee scene last year that I saw that somewhere new, right?
• 21:02
  James: So Oman for some reason had all these amazing coffee shops.
• 21:06
  Meggan: Oh, that's really cool.
• 21:07
  James: not sure why, but I couldn't believe what I was tasting.
• 21:09
  James: So that's a rogue left field option for you if you want to go to Middle East.
• 21:13
  Meggan: Definitely.
• 21:15
  Meggan: Definitely.
• 21:15
  Meggan: For us, I would say so far, I remember having coffee in Iceland, but I don't remember it standing out.
• 21:20
  Meggan: I'll let you know in June when I go back.
• 21:22
  Meggan: But, um, we had great coffee in Germany and I swear it was really strong coffee.
• 21:29
  Meggan: and my husband now makes coffee, like we're in Heidelberg or something.
• 21:33
  Meggan: I don't know what he thinks every morning, but I don't think we've slept since we came home from Europe in 2022 because he just makes the coffee so terribly strong.
• 21:41
  Meggan: And I'm just like, we're not in Europe.
• 21:42
  Meggan: I don't know what you're trying to prove here.
• 21:44
  Meggan: But I've gotten used to it sadly.
• 21:46
  Meggan: And now any weak coffee, I'm like, what is this?
• 21:48
  Meggan: This isn't coffee.
• 21:51
  Meggan: But anyway, those are really good tips.
• 21:53
  James: They're great.
• 21:54
  James: I did start a coffee podcast.
• 21:56
  James: I didn't really kick off.
• 21:57
  James: I had an idea where I'd travel and do coffee at the same time.
• 22:00
  James: But.
• 22:00
  James: Not enough people were were invested.
• 22:02
  James: Unfortunately.
• 22:03
  James: So I'm still I've still got a hope.
• 22:05
  James: Yeah, I've got hope in the future but not right now but uh I might introduce a coffee section on the YouTube channel now that I've got.
• 22:12
  James: We'll see.
• 22:14
  James: I'm I'm
• 22:14
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 22:14
  Jenn: Wow.
• 22:15
  Jenn: We'll be, I'll be there.
• 22:16
  Jenn: Yeah, I'll I'll be there.
• 22:18
  Meggan: support that.
• 22:19
  James: Well, I'm glad we didn't get those recommendations.
• 22:21
  James: We went to East
• 22:22
  Jenn: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:23
  James: Yeah.
• 22:24
  Jenn: Yeah, I've, uh, I've toyed with the idea of Buying a home roaster and roasting beans, but it just the time commitment to learn sounds so intimidating to me at this point that I'm like Maybe it's a someday project.
• 22:40
  Jenn: It's maybe a retirement project.
• 22:41
  Jenn: I don't know
• 22:43
  James: Uh well, we met someone in Vancouver Island about 4 years ago, right?
• 22:47
  James: We first got a campervan and went to Vancouver Island and this couple had this like garage.
• 22:52
  James: Converted into a cafe coffee place.
• 22:55
  James: And we spoke to him and at that point, it just about bought it from this guy who was a roaster.
• 22:58
  James: So they're learning the process of roasting coffee and they're converting the cafe, getting it going.
• 23:03
  James: And we went and saw the guy last year in the summer.
• 23:06
  James: So he remembered us and was like, Oh yeah, we saw you like two, three years ago.
• 23:10
  James: I was like, how's it going?
• 23:10
  James: He goes, yeah, it's just kicking off.
• 23:11
  James: Like they've got loads of coffee.
• 23:13
  James: People buying on the islands, they're shipping out to the mainland.
• 23:17
  James: And he's like, yeah, it's a bit of a process to learn how to do it, the roasting part, but once you get your own niche and you stick to the same process and do your own coffee, and it's the same one that people recognize.
• 23:26
  James: And I think there's, there's some legs to it.
• 23:28
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 23:29
  Jenn: TBD.
• 23:30
  Jenn: Maybe it'll be Travel Mug Podcast Coffee Brand.
• 23:35
  Jenn: Maybe someday.
• 23:39
  Jenn: So, tell us, tell me, tell me about travel plans.
• 23:42
  Jenn: What do you have, do you have anything in the pipeline you can share with us?
• 23:46
  James: Uh, I've got, um, a couple of events.
• 23:49
  James: I don't know if you guys go to events for your podcast, but, um, going to podcast movement in August in Washington, DC,
• 23:56
  Meggan: Nice.
• 23:57
  James: for a try out and see what happens never been to one,
• 23:59
  Jenn: we haven't either.
• 24:00
  James: uh, and then, then, okay.
• 24:01
  James: Yeah.
• 24:02
  James: I'm not sure what to expect really.
• 24:03
  James: Um, we'll, we'll
• 24:03
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 24:05
  James: Yeah.
• 24:07
  James: Yeah.
• 24:07
  James: I'll let you know if it's good or bad.
• 24:09
  James: I'm sure it'd be good.
• 24:10
  James: Um, and November I've got a month off, so I'm going to go backpack.
• 24:15
  James: I'm going to go to El Salvador.
• 24:16
  James: I'm going to go over land to Guatemala, then Southern Mexico before flying back to Vancouver.
• 24:22
  James: So that's the only big
• 24:24
  Jenn: I have a friend that just did basically that.
• 24:26
  Jenn: She started in Mexico, but she did, um, El Salvador and Guatemala and her, her Instagram looked amazing.
• 24:33
  Jenn: So I'm sure it's going to be so
• 24:34
  James: You have to
• 24:35
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 24:36
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 24:36
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 24:38
  James: It looks incredible.
• 24:39
  James: El Salvador looks incredible.
• 24:41
  Meggan: of El Salvador, um, we follow Gabriel Traveler on YouTube and he was just actually in El Salvador not that long ago and he has a series of videos if you want to check those out as well.
• 24:52
  James: Oh, okay.
• 24:53
  James: Yeah.
• 24:53
  James: Yeah.
• 24:53
  James: I'll check it out.
• 24:54
  James: Uh, there will be a YouTube series on it for mine as well.
• 24:56
  James: I think I'll go and do some proper vlogging there, I think.
• 24:59
  James: Because last year, I tell you, I don't know what you guys think, but YouTube, right?
• 25:02
  James: Last year for me, it was.
• 25:04
  James: Never in the mind or in the thought, yes, I might do YouTube in the future, but I was never planning to go and see something because of YouTube, right?
• 25:11
  James: So everything you see now is a bit genuine.
• 25:13
  James: This is what I took on the day where we went, this is the photo I've got, this is the video I've got, and I'm narrating over the top.
• 25:19
  James: But once I run out of content, the question comes, uh, do I, do I go to El Salvador and go and see things that I don't normally go and see just for YouTube, right?
• 25:27
  James: So it's a bit of a Question in my mind about how to do it in November, but I got I got all summer to think
• 25:32
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 25:33
  Jenn: For sure.
• 25:33
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 25:33
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 25:34
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 25:34
  Jenn: It's interesting.
• 25:35
  Jenn: Once you become.
• 25:36
  Jenn: Uh, a content creator in any sense that you're always kind of like thinking about it.
• 25:44
  Jenn: I feel like, like, okay, make sure I take a picture of this or make sure I video this and then make sure you're videoing it in the right way for Instagram or for YouTube or whatever.
• 25:54
  Jenn: So sometimes it's like, okay.
• 25:56
  Jenn: Film it in horizontal and then film it in vertical.
• 26:00
  James: You're
• 26:01
  Jenn: It's, uh, it's so much more work than people, than people know.
• 26:07
  Jenn: Uh, to finish off, tell me maybe your top three places that you've been and why.
• 26:15
  Jenn: I know it's hard to choose.
• 26:20
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 26:22
  James: bolivia for a start I think is a is a cool place to go and check out in south america.
• 26:27
  James: I think uh, fairly cheap place compared to the rest of the region and so many different types of um Potential things you can see right from the salt flats in the west to the amazon in the east You've got the high towns and high cities and new and old la paz is a bit of a crazy city And sucre is like a nice white white building colonial city So there's all these different things going on and the Bolivians are super nice And a bit spanish would help a long way there, but that's that country kind of gripped me a little bit I enjoyed it some interesting stories from that.
• 27:00
  James: Uh, I think new zealand is probably You In there because we camper van-ed it on our one year working there twice And I went there in 2013 on the kiwi experience bus if people don't know what the kiwi experience is If you're young it's a good party bus to go on for a month or two Um, so I checked out both those islands a couple of times and I just love the place And I think three I normally say japan It's between japan and nepal.
• 27:26
  James: I can't decide which one it is, but based on experience last year nepal was great But I think japan would just about take it I think Because that place is like unlike anywhere else Like the way it's done like super efficient really nice people expensive, But everything is just amazingly thought out what looks for in amongst chaos as well.
• 27:48
  James: So
• 27:49
  Meggan: Right.
• 27:50
  Meggan: I can see that.
• 27:52
  Meggan: I've watched some content on Japan and it seems so orderly yet so chaotic and the food scene, even the convenience store food scene, like it's mind boggling to me.
• 28:05
  Meggan: I've seen so many sandwiches with strawberries in them and I'm just like, well, I need to have that in my life.
• 28:10
  Meggan: So I feel like I need to go there for more than this.
• 28:13
  Meggan: But when I think of it, I think I want to go to like the convenience stores and get the snacks.
• 28:19
  James: absolutely Yeah, they kind of bail you out Sometimes when you get a bit confused about what food to have And it can be overwhelming, right, because you don't know the language, and Japanese is not the best at speaking English, which is not a bad thing, I'm just saying you need to be aware of that.
• 28:31
  James: So when you're a bit stressed, just go into the convenience store and buy a sandwich and you'll be fine.
• 28:35
  James: Good coffee there as well.
• 28:36
  James: I think you enjoyed the coffee.
• 28:38
  Meggan: wonderful.
• 28:38
  Meggan: And I think there's something called inari as well.
• 28:41
  Meggan: The triangles.
• 28:42
  Meggan: Oh, anyway, it, it it all looks so delicious.
• 28:45
  Meggan: And I, I definitely have Japan on my list.
• 28:48
  Meggan: I just have to convince my husband to fly that far.
• 28:50
  Meggan: So we'll see.
• 28:51
  James: Oh yeah, it's quite far from you, isn't it?
• 28:53
  James: Oh,
• 28:53
  Jenn: is quite.
• 28:55
  James: Cool, what, what is that flight from you?
• 28:57
  James: That must
• 28:57
  Jenn: Yeah, so we would have to fly.
• 28:59
  Jenn: I think most flights would take us like Halifax to like Vancouver and then Vancouver.
• 29:05
  Jenn: So, I think in my.
• 29:08
  Jenn: And, and I haven't done the flight either like, We have like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, all on our list.
• 29:14
  Jenn: And I think we would have to like fly to Vancouver and spend a couple of days in Vancouver and then go on the other flight because I just don't think I can handle.
• 29:23
  Jenn: You know, the, what, I think we're eight hour flight to Vancouver from halifax and then also then flying another, like, I just, I wouldn't survive.
• 29:35
  James: I tell you
• 29:36
  Meggan: I think it's a good plan.
• 29:37
  Jenn: yeah,
• 29:38
  James: Crazy.
• 29:39
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 29:40
  James: Yeah.
• 29:41
  James: One lesson learned from the road trip is Canada's huge.
• 29:43
  James: And US, because we haven't backed through US, right?
• 29:45
  James: Huge.
• 29:46
  James: There are so many days you just drive 8 hours, 9 hours, just to get
• 29:50
  Jenn: yeah, no, it is, it is wild.
• 29:52
  Jenn: We are much more accessible to Europe than we are to you in Vancouver.
• 29:57
  Jenn: Like, it's just, Yeah.
• 29:59
  Meggan: And I think that's why Canadians enjoy Europe so much though, because everything is so close and we're not used to that.
• 30:05
  Meggan: And we're just like, this is exciting.
• 30:07
  Meggan: In a half an hour, I could be here.
• 30:09
  Meggan: Like, it's mind blowing for us.
• 30:11
  Meggan: So I think that that's why Europe also has a lot of appeal to Canadians, just because you can get more done in the course of a vacation than you can in your own country, essentially.
• 30:21
  James: and I think I've appreciated that now more.
• 30:23
  James: I think 10 year, 14 years since I left, whatever it was, I do now think why on earth did I not do more of Europe back, you know, before 2013 really, but also because of Brexit, why did I not go and live in Europe more before we come out of the
• 30:38
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 30:39
  James: So yeah, some, some regrets there for sure.
• 30:42
  Jenn: Hindsight is always 20/20 yeah.
• 30:45
  Meggan: do that.
• 30:46
  Meggan: Um, so before we let you go, James, where can our listeners find you online?
• 30:51
  Meggan: All the places, let us know.
• 30:54
  James: Yep.
• 30:55
  James: So the handle is winging it travel podcast.
• 30:57
  James: That is Instagram, YouTube, and all the podcast platforms that people listen to.
• 31:04
  James: And also I do kind of go by on Facebook and X, called, but I don't use them.
• 31:09
  James: They're kind of automated a little bit.
• 31:10
  James: So the only real place I do post is Instagram and YouTube.
• 31:16
  James: I do do a lot of shorts and community posts and stuff like that.
• 31:18
  James: And obviously the podcast
• 31:20
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 31:20
  James: So they're probably the best ones to reach me on.
• 31:22
  Jenn: We'll have those in the show notes so people can just go click and find you and follow you there.
• 31:30
  Meggan: Wonderful.
• 31:31
  Meggan: Well, thank you so much, for coming on today, James.
• 31:33
  Meggan: Finally, we're so glad we got to have you on the show.
• 31:37
  Meggan: As for us at the Travel Mug Podcast, you can find us on social media at Travel Mug Podcast.
• 31:42
  Meggan: On travelmugpodcast.
• 31:44
  Meggan: com is our website.
• 31:45
  Meggan: We super appreciate, , any Spotify or Apple podcast reviews.
• 31:49
  Meggan: It helps more people find the show.
• 31:51
  Meggan: You can also support us on buy me a coffee.
• 31:54
  Meggan: The link is in the show notes or sharing the show with a travel loving pal.
• 31:58
  Meggan: And until next time, bye everyone.