Rum and the World

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the 3 hamster boy podcast here. 3. 0 4. Episode 4. Is

this episode?

I think this is episode 5. We did heroes, villains, mentors, and then comfort movies.

Oh, you're

right. You're right. This is episode 5.

Welcome to episode 5. Wow.

Episode 5.

It's a big day.

Yeah. And, with that, we are doing the theming. Today is a little bit different. I think this is brought on by the fact that the end of the year, we've been doing some trip planning ourselves. In fact, in December, we're planning on taking a family vacation to Germany where our mom's, family resides, and our plan is to hit up basically every single Christmas market that we can.

In Munich.

In, yeah, in Munich specifically. So that should be a lot of fun. But that got us thinking about places that we haven't been to before that we'd really love to go to and see, and that's kind of where the idea for this topic came from.

Yeah. And it's a it's a little bit unfair because I turned 60, so I've traveled a lot more than they have. So, you know, there there's a lot of places that I I would love to go revisit, but I I really wanted to to really focus on places I've never been to before.

I mean, we haven't been to a lot of places. So, like, we've got an encyclopedia of places to go. Yes. Alright, Nick. What alcohol are we drinking today and and what do we have in front of us?

Of course. So today, we are drinking a rum, from a Richmond based, distillery called Virago. And it's no it's, the rum that we have specifically is called a 4 port rum, where I believe it is imported from 4 different locations, and then distilled in Richmond. So I believe this is a it's a darker rum. Haven't tried it.

The perfect vacation drink.

Yeah. Yeah.

If you're sitting on an island in the Caribbean.

Well, we haven't done that yet.

We'll get there. We'll get there. But, yeah, it it should be able we should be able to identify the rum fairly easily, especially based on how it smells.

I was about to say it smells like rum. Wow. He's Yeah. He's he's just going. He's gonna

smell it. Yeah. There you go. Alrighty. Cheers.

Cheers. Oh, wait. That's really good, actually. I really like that. It smells really boozy, and maybe it is, but I think that goes down really really easily.

That's really nice.

So the thing that the thing that I like about it is that, it doesn't have a lot of the sharpness of the room. The room is very mellow. Yeah. If, if even if it was a sharp rum, you would be able to taste. But that rum is just very smooth and very drinkable. Yeah. And the the lime really helps with it.

It's got like a different I think I think it's like a spiced rum. It's got it's got something onto it.

Yeah. It does. And it might be because there's different types of rum in it. Yeah. It gives you that kind of like a a blended Scotch is gonna have bunch of different flavors in it.

So Yeah. I mean, I I taste a lot of the citrus going

in here.

Yeah. Yeah. Which I like and I think

It needs the cut.

Yeah. Yeah. It does. It does.

Plus, if you're sitting on a beach somewhere where it's sunny, the citrus helps. Oh my god.

I'm immediately thinking about that. Yeah. Dad, let's kick it off with you. I know that you've, you know, said that you've been to a lot of places, but kind of where where is some place that you haven't been that you'd like to to visit?

And and to clarify, we're we're going a more broader sense of, like, travel experience. Like, countries and, like, like, specific, like

General places. Yeah. Like, we'll we'll probably say more countries or like regions rather than getting like into the nitty gritty of like Yeah. Making a whole travel plan immediately here now.

Yeah. I mean, I think that, as I've I've traveled, when I was in Navy, I traveled a lot in the northern hemisphere. So a lot of what I haven't seen are inland places or places in the southern hemisphere. Yeah. And so, when we we look at these places, 2 of them are in the southern hemisphere and one is very inland. Mhmm. Alright? So for my number 3, and this is gonna go in order from, least to best. Where I really wanted to go.

Like like the most like you're most interested in going.

Yeah. So number 1 is gonna be my most interesting. Number 3 is gonna be the 3rd best interesting.

Okay.

Alright. So for number 3, I wanna go to the Lekobe restrict reserve strict reserve. And this is in Madagascar. Madagascar. So going to the island of Madagascar, which is a huge island when you when you think about islands, but it's, there's so many reserves there. There's one particular reserve that's like the bottom third of the of the country.

Wow.

And it has a lot of island around it, and it just seems like it would be a place where I would see things I've never seen before. It's a place where I've never been because it's on the Indian Ocean side of Africa. And it just is a place that I think would be interesting and brand new for me to see. And then traveling to it would probably add more things to it. So that's my number 3 spot.

Oh, that's fun.

Yeah. I mean, you could definitely be drinking one of

these. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, the the funny thing is the the the Lykobe, reserves. Lykobe strict reserve. You can only get there by paddling by boat.

Paddling? Paddling. Oh, yes. You can't take like a

There are no carrier. There are no motor boats allowed. Wow.

In reserve. Oh, because it's like to preserve and

It's it's it's that's why they call it a strict preserve. There are no motors, so you'll be living in huts and whatever, and you'll do hikes and all that stuff.

You know, that's kind of weird for you to say. I know. Yes. Our father is known for wanting to get rid of our yard and fill it with concrete. Yeah. He's not really the biggest outdoor person.

The only sort of like forest or jungle would be a concrete one.

I would

think I would foresee for him.

Plus being on soap Yeah. I was like a whole

lot of metal box.

You know on some I mean there's not a lot of grass growing. So, but yeah, it's it's a I I I think all 3 of my places are kind of contrary to what I normally am.

And you know, I think that makes sense. And I think it's just like broadening, broadening like experiences and like perspectives, but I mean, I I think we all I think we'd all like to go to the places that we're gonna say. Yeah. If you haven't been there already. Yeah. But like, yeah, I Madagascar unexpected. Not not my, like, gut reaction to go to, but I would, you know, sign me up, honestly. Yeah.

Alright. Alright, Nick. What do you got going on here?

Okay. So for for my number 3 Yep. I'm doing similar, like, 3rd most interested to my most, like Yeah. This is the the what what I wanna do so badly. Mhmm. So I'll start 3. I wanna go to Greece. Okay. I I think there's so many, rich history, so much risk rich history there. I'm I'm a I'm a mythology geek. Yes. And I think, it would be so fun to go there. I think there's so many, like, awesome buildings and architecture in Greece as well.

And the food would be awesome.

I was about to say on the Mediterranean. I love Mediterranean food and and I love Greek food. Yeah. I think I think that that's that's a lot of my driving factor for

a lot of these places. The food

is like rich cuisine and like just trying so much like variety is always like something that's so exciting to me. I don't like ouzo, which I think is a Greek. Yep. Yeah. Not a good we're not gonna have an ouzo episode for our alcoholic.

What what is ouzo? Is that

It's like, and a licorice liquor.

Yeah. Okay.

And it's funny because usually I I've seen it with, like, coffee beans in the bottom, which makes it even stranger.

Woah. I can't imagine that, and I don't want to, to be honest.

Maybe maybe, you know, if we get bigger we force Nick to have a new episode.

You make the cocktails that time. But, yeah, I I think I would love to go to Greece. I think there's so many cool things to do there. Such a rich history. Like, I'd geek out a lot about stuff. And then just like really good food and, like, being on the Mediterranean offers, like, it's a whole experience. I think any, country that's on the Mediterranean, I think you can you can get, like, such a cool and awesome, like, visual Environment. Yeah. Yeah.

Alright. It's me. Okay. My turn for an elevator pitch similar to the other 2. I am also going in in order of, like, 3rd being, like, I wanna go here, but not as badly as my number 2 or number 1.

you're so good at it.

Oh, yeah. I'm so good at it now.

As good as your German.

Oh, yeah. Don't you remind me about German? Mom was grilling me that my German is gone now. But, yeah, I I think it would be so much fun to go to Bolivia, really anywhere in South America, because I don't know. I haven't seen a lot, and I'd love to see more of, like, the countryside and, like, Bolivia is, like, plateaus, like mountains

and stuff.

It's totally landlocked. Yeah. Which is which is kind of a crazy thing to think about because I'm I've always looked places where there was ocean or or water around me. And but they're totally landlocked, but it's very high elevation. Yeah. It's, it would be just incredible to see.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So that's that's where I I'm sitting on that.

And the food.

And the food. Yeah. Oh my god. I bet the food is awesome. Yeah.

I can't, that would be pretty cool to see.

I'd I'd

love to go there

as well. Plus because it's centered, it's probably has, a lot of indigenous food and then also food that's been impacted by the countries around. Yeah. It's really small.

And it's probably also, like, a decent place to start if you wanna go to other

places. What I was also thinking. Like, obviously, for this episode specifically, we're focusing on one thing, but, like, I feel like Bolivia, you could just kinda go wherever you want Yeah. After that. Yeah.

Because there's like, I think 6 countries touch it altogether.

Yeah. So it's kinda crazy. That'll be really fun.

Yep. So Right. I like the rum.

I like the rum too.

And the daiquiri is good also. It, You

know, I I will say this most of these cocktails, first time I've ever made these cocktails Yep. Because I haven't made a cocktail before this.

You're killing

it. You are. So we have, we we totally put the total burden of cocktails onto Nick and he has been just killing it. It's been fun. And we've gotten some liqueurs and stuff that we've never seen before.

We've gotten some very odd stuff. Yeah. And some that we will be tasting very shortly. Yep.

Yay. Well, then we'll see you after a quick break and we'll be back with another set of drinks. Oh, shit. Hey. We are back.

We're here.

I was gonna say we're back.

We're back. Oh, wow. So much energy.

It's so much energy.

Well, you know, after a daiquiri, I've got all this energy.

I was gonna say, there's only one drink done. We got 2 more to go.

Well, and it's just more boozy after that. Yep.

Yeah. I do wanna say really quickly if we can admire Nick's work here. Obviously, this is kind of like a learning experience, where, Nick is making cocktails for the first time, and I think mine perfectly is what we were going for. Obviously, these got a little shaken up. But beforehand, before we brought them upstairs, they were also looking very similar.

They all looked pretty good. Yeah. But this is the Fog Cutter cocktail. It has, obviously, the rum. It has gin, konjac, and almond liqueur, Orgillot.

Yeah. Whatever you just said.

As well as some citrus to cut it with orange juice, and lime or lemon. And then topped with? And topped with it recommended a sherry, but we couldn't find a sherry in this time, so we did it with a orange port Oh. Which should be actually pretty complimentary. It it's, I think this is the most deviant deviated that I've gone for a recipe, but the orange port should go pretty decent with the orange juice and and all the other sort of citrus flavors.

It should it should give the the aged taste of the sherry, and then the orange is just gonna pump up the citrus a little bit. Yeah.

It

should be good.

Should be it should be an interesting one at at the very least.

I will say our father was a bartender in a past life. Yeah. Yeah. Not a very good one, but.

Oh, that drink's way too easy.

I'd like to remind you there's 3, 4 different alcohols

in this. This tastes like orange juice. And

I might have added too much orange juice, but I can after Yeah. You can the initial.

Yeah.

Once again, really easy to drink.

Yeah. It's a little too easy to drink.

That's way too easy to drink. I mean, yeah, that's that is way too easy.

I was afraid that we'd get hit with a little bit too much gin and be, like, reminded of the the last episode.

I do taste a little bit of the gin kind of at the end. It's like some of the end notes there. But for the most part yeah. Wow. Very orangey, very like orange juice. We were talking earlier, like, before we we came back that it kinda looks like a tequila sunrise. It kinda reminds us of this. Yeah. This feels like something I I could also be drinking on vacation.

Yeah. This this is definitely a beach drink.

Very very tropical. Very, yeah. The citrus is just the orange and like all that good stuff.

I could just imagine being on a beach bar. Mhmm. Wind blowing here and the waves crash in the background.

I think if I if we put this on ice before drinking it, it's slightly better. But Yeah. For the most part, it's still really solid. My gosh.

If we did like a frozen margarita style for this, I would

kill this. This is where I'm learning. We'll we'll work on margaritas.

We'll get the blenders out. Yeah.

Yeah. No. But I think that this is great. Nick, well, in honor of your work, why don't you kick us off

for Absolutely.

For the second one.

Number 2, we, I'm going to Asia. There's many countries that I wanna go to in Asia, but the one that, our mom talks about how she loves to always visit and it's always, like, a spectacular and unique experience every time is Singapore. Yeah. I wanna go to Singapore for for many reasons. My sort of, like, allure, I've said this before, I love food.

Yeah. What?

And Singapore is is has turned into this almost melting pot of cultures of, like, many many different, like, Asian, influences all, like, brewing together into this one spot. And I feel like if there is any type of Asian cuisine that I get a like a hankering for, I feel like Singapore is the place to go to get really good authentic ones like all the time.

Not only that, but I think that the street food scene is probably multicultural

also. Yeah. Yeah.

So I'm just thinking that you're walking down the street and going, what? That looks Indian, that looks Malaysian,

that looks Vietnamese. I think you're

just gonna get everything there.

I'd I'd that's one of the, like, spectacular things that always drives me. I'm like, you know, if I'm always like, alright, where am I going? Alright. What what kind of food do they have? You know, like Yeah.

Yeah. You could take a ferry

to go anywhere. Yeah.

And then our mom said this when we were talking about it, because I was like bouncing ideas off of her. Yeah. And she was like, it's it's a place that is always changing and evolving, and I think that's that's even more, like alluring to me because Yeah. Having a stagnant experience every time you're, like, okay, I know what I'm getting into. Mhmm. But it's, like, it I think it's a little more thrilling if it's if it's always changing and, like, moving.

I will say, I I think, like, Paris is, like, that kind of city that is overblown, and I think it is kinda like every time that I've been to Paris, which is 2, 3 times at this point, it's it's been the same experience. So, like, I love the Louvre, but I think, yeah, you're right. Some place that's constantly, like, changing, evolving like Singapore feels like a very fun adventure every time.

No. That but there's so many different cultures that have, like, enclaves or sections of it.

So,

like, if you go to little India, you go to there's a Chinese section and these sections are always evolving. And each country in Asia is like picking up their own little area. So you could literally walk from one street to the next street and you'll be in little Vietnam, a little all that stuff.

It's so good.

I I think that

I'd love to go there. I think

you can also get your Mongolian barbecue that we just found out is not Mongolian.

It's Taiwanese, I believe. Oh, yeah. That we heard.

Oh my. I'm devastated.

French fries all over here.

That's right.

Alright. I will go next. And I love food and cuisine, right there. But this place probably, I mean, they're known for cuisine, but maybe not in the in the same way that Singapore is. My second place that I wanna go to is Scotland. Mhmm. Again, I think heavily influenced by our mother, as we all are.

The most avid traveler.

Yeah. I has she been I feel like she's traveled a little more than you have.

She's traveled a lot more in Asia than I have. I've only been to a couple places. She was going to Europe and Asia almost every year.

Yeah. So. Yeah. But Scotland, a place that she speaks fondly of, well, some some memories of Scotland. I I remember her having, you know, she she did event management and talking about, like, looking up at, like, light riggers, and they're wearing kilts.

And not much else. Yeah. And only kilts.

But I, you know, I think Scotland would be such a fun place to visit. Obviously, I'd have to try haggis.

Yeah. You know?

So As a vegetarian,

I'm not sure there's gonna be

a lot of options for me there. But

As an omnivore, you know, it's not it's not on the my my really high try list.

Yeah. But Well,

as long as you're drinking whiskey with it.

Whiskey. Whiskey. But, yeah, also, like, the alcohol scene there. Again, it's another one of those, like, Europe, UK kind of places where it's walkable if you're in some of the bigger parts like Edinburgh. I had a friend who went to college in Edinburgh, and he's already said that he's more than willing to keep me up for a night or 2. So it sounds like the the perfect place to go just kind of explore the city, explore Scotland, hear those fun fun accents.

No. And once again, it's one of those places that, maybe it's not in the center of Europe, it's in the center of the UK. Mhmm. So you really can jump off to Ireland or goes to London or whatever.

And I did really enjoy London when I was there. So may maybe it is kinda like also Wales. So I wanna go to Wales.

Don't forget the Welsh. Yeah. Don't forget to us.

Alright. I'm next. Yeah. So, my number 2 place is similar to Greece. And that's and that's Egypt. When you talk about the cradle of civilization.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got what he was saying.

But I didn't understand it at first.

Well, but you know, you think about when Alexander was there, it was already 4000 years old.

To be fair, I have never been to Egypt before. No,

Alexander the Great.

Oh, that one. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, and and also, you know, the the Roman emperors that were that were there, they were there when it was 4000 years old. And I just think that, when you think about history and everything as a civilization, you can look at, like, some of the Chinese civilizations. You can look at, the Egyptian civilizations that have just this great longevity, And and they have the structures in order to look at it.

Yeah. And also, I mean, a big mythology scene. Yep. And so

I mean, there there's so much to I feel like when going to Egypt and and seeing, like, a lot of the, like, ancient parts of it, I think the scale of it is probably Yes. Mind boggling. Right? Like, you're when you're walking to the the, pyramids you're probably like, oh my gosh.

Well, I mean, I I think, you know, you go to these big cities like Hong Kong or New York Yeah. And you say that's incredible scale, but that's really a 100 years ago.

Yeah.

A 150 years ago. You you I've never been to Egypt, but I can imagine going to Egypt and going, okay. That was 4000 years ago. Yeah. That was 6000 years ago. It's just it's it's hard to grasp how that was accomplished with the world so small as it was at that time.

Yeah. You know? Plus, like, technologically. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

So fascinating. I was

about to say the world's small. They got nothing else to do. They're just gonna build pyramids. Just kidding. I'm sorry to any of our historian archaeologists or Egyptian

people. The other the other part talking about being impacted by your mother is that, your mother really wants to be wanted to be an archaeologist.

Yes. Oh, yeah.

But it but there was never there was no way to make a living at it. Right? And so

Some people are.

Some people are. Very few

people It's very difficult. Yeah.

Very difficult. But, so what does she do? She always walk watches these documentaries. And so by osmosis, I'm seeing all these documentaries. Yeah. Exactly. The diggings and all that stuff.

Then, yeah. Mythology? God. I love I love all sorts of pantheons.

Can you imagine walking down the street and seeing a wall with hieroglyphics on it? I mean, it's your imagination just goes crazy. You know, you you you see and look, this is 5000 years ago. They wrote this.

What is this saying? What is what is the the meaning behind it?

It's just it would be incredible.

Yeah. And of course food. Yeah.

The food would be fantastic too. Plus you you have such a great, because it was a center of all these cultures that went there.

Yeah.

Not only just conquered, but just going in there. And there's different cultures that have taken different parts of the of the Nile that the food is is really a a bread basket of all these countries around it, you know. So it would just be pretty incredible.

We love food here.

Yeah. We do. We're big big foodies. You know what? We we love new food. I think that's really a driver for us. We like seeing something new and different and unique because, you know, bland food that is the same every day is just not interesting. Yeah.

I feel like a lot

of people feel that way.

I don't know.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know many people who would just eat the same kind of like, I don't know, peanut butter Nutella sandwiches all their time.

There are some people who Yeah. You know? Alright. After this, we're gonna have our 3rd

and final drink. We both we also this is good, but we haven't finished our drink. There was a lot

more liquid. There was a lot of

Content. Yeah. A lot more liquid here.

But we'll be right back after this, and, we'll have our 3rd and final drink. Cheers. And we are back. Hello. Thanks for sticking out with us. We're here on the 3rd and final leg here of this episode. I'm feeling good team. Rum is is good. I am not feeling it quite as much as the gin episode.

I'm pretty sure I just gave us all, like, 10 shots of gin and like extra flavored sprinkling it on top.

But I'm I'm definitely definitely feeling some rum in my system at this point. Yeah. Which is good. What do we got here? What are we drinking now, Nick?

So I thought it was fitting when I was looking around for cocktails and and fun things to, incorporate. I always try to add like a something unique, something that I'd never heard of or I I try to do that with with all of them, but sometimes I'm like, we gotta do something classic for this one or like the gin one. I was like, I love the Tom Collins, so like, I'll I'll do that one. But this one, the name called out to me immediately. It it this cocktail is the ancient mariner, which is funny, ironic, because our dad is an ancient mariner.

he But not in the traditional sense. Very few times are Submariners called Mariners. Yeah. Ancient Submariners. Yeah.

But, yeah. So, I looked into it and it's a fascinating, drink and cocktail that I thought our ancient mariner might like. It has notes of grapefruit, it has something called allspice dram.

Which we had never heard of before and and it was not difficult to get but definitely when I went to buy it the person at the store had never seen it

before. Tucked away in the corners of

the stores.

It was. It was like in the middle of all these liqueurs and all she goes she says, do you got a picture of it? So I pulled it up and showed her a picture because they had said they had it at the store. And she said, okay, that's the bottle. Is that the one you wanna do? And it's such a unique looking bottle also.

Yeah. And we haven't tried it. We smelled it and it smells wicked. Pumpkin pie Yeah. Very very like, like, spiced. Yeah. I was

gonna say, like aromatic. Pumpkin pie?

What? The, the the aromatics from, pumpkin pie where you get the, like, the cinnamon, nutmeg, and mason Oh,

okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Not the pumpkin smell, but No.

Yeah. But like the the aspect of

the spice. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, like gluwine.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gluwine. True.

True. True.

Which I'm sure we'll talk about at some point when we get back.

Other than that, I think it's just simple syrup and some lime juice.

Oh. So lime again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Which I absolutely love.

Cheers. Cheers.

On our last drink.

You're shaking your head? Was that a good shake, a

bad shake? I'm I'm recovering. Sort of like adjusting.

Yeah. You

can taste it right up there.

Yes. Yes. But it doesn't have the burn of alcohol.

No. No. No. No.

It go it goes down very smooth. Yeah. But you can taste all the different alcohol aspects of it, which is weird.

I will say, I our mother loves rum and is very, like, transparent about about, you know, big fan of rum. We got a Captain Morgan in the house.

Yes. At all times.

But I don't think I really haven't had a lot of rum based drinks before this. And I am surprised at how easy all of these are to drink. Yeah.

Well, I mean, just rum is basically you think of sugar. Right? It's it's considered a sweet alcohol.

Yeah. Yeah. And I can see that

for sure. You know, and so

Scent wise, you don't always get convinced though sometimes.

I I will say when you were making making the drinks downstairs in our kitchen, I was like, oh, we're we're not gonna be able to walk straight out of this episode, but, drinking these, I these are good. I mean, you demolished yours already.

You know you know what it is? I I was thinking that the grapefruit would be overpowering. Mhmm. But I don't think it is.

I think

it I think it it blends in very nicely. The allspice dram, which we thought was kind of use unusual for all of them. Yeah. Doesn't overpower it either. It just kind of puts a layer on top.

It's very apparent though.

Yeah. I would say. There's there's no doubt you can taste allspice in it. Yeah. But it's it's very complimentary and the Yeah. Grapefruit juice is complimentary rather than being overpowering.

This, the other 2 tropical. This one Yes.

This is by the fire.

I would I would put a cinnamon stick in this to be honest. Oh, yeah. Wait I love that idea. If it was colder, like outside, campfire.

Yeah. Wait. You could put like warm apple cider in here? Yeah. I wonder if oh, my God.

I mean, it we'd be it it's I would say it's very similar to a rum toddy.

Yep. Like a

like a hot warm, rum toddy. Yeah.

Yeah. But now you understand why the rum toddy is an idea because you get the warm rum and it just Yeah. You know, it's it's the the sweetness comes out when you heat it up.

Team, this feels perfect. It's raining behind us out here. Like, I'm I'm feeling like I wanna go downstairs and, like, put some hot apple cider in here and just kinda, like, sip on this.

And it's been raining all day. It has been just continual drizzle all day today.

Which also may have contributed to our our kind of wanting to think about vacation Yeah. Exactly. Out in the world.

It's a gray day. Where would we rather be?

Where would we go?

And yet you pick Scotland. We're drizzling all the time.

It's always like us.

But I love tea and I love, like, rainy days. So I I I would be okay with Scotland.

Plus Scotland is like picturesque at some point. Yeah. You know, like, get the fog and the the elevation.

Plus, I mean, I can see your friend at a pub.

Yes. I mean, pub experience.

Oh, gosh.

Doing poetry. It would just be so cool to just sit down and do that. Oh, it it would be awesome. Fire roaring.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Alright. Let's go now. Alright.

Alright. You I guess you go first.

Yep. I'm gonna go first here, for the last one. I think if you know me personally, not a surprise. Japan is kind of the place where I've wanted to go for a while now, and it doesn't help that we, as a family, as a collective, watch a ton of, like, travel videos, Japan content, and just kinda see the the I I think Japan is a really interesting country because it has, a lot of media coming out of the country. And I think a part of that helps romanticize the Japanese experience, and I am not oblivious to that fact.

Our So much.

Our dad watches a little bit of anime. We've gotten him to watch some anime with us. You know, we are fans of of anime, pseudo Ghibli, things like that. And those certainly romanticize the Japanese experience, romanticize the Japanese countryside, romanticize Japan as a whole. And then, of course, we watch content that's, like, a day in the life of a Japanese person or, like, we're going to, Rio Con in this kind of province.

I think Japan, number 1 is, it's a culture that's very different from ours. So that's what

makes it interesting.

But I think also how Japan is evolving where so much is in Tokyo. So many people in this huge city that's a megalopolis. But then you go right outside of it and a train ride away, you're in areas that are very rural, but a 100 of years old. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that that, you know, difference or that that contrast is what makes it even more interesting in my mind. I would Tokyo looks like it'd be a great fun time. I've been there once before. It was fantastic. Yeah.

Oh my god. We gotta do a sake. Episode.

Yeah. So I mean I'll work on it. I'll work on it. Well, if if not sake then Japanese whiskey, which

I think is even more into it.

You're just a whiskey head. We'll talk we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it.

But yeah. So I I think that Japan is I mean, and you and you look at it, you go to Okinawa, which is tropical and then you have Hokkaido, which is is the coldest place.

It's the

Yeah. Most snow will have Has the most snowfall recorded.

So I just think that there's so

I wanna go there. Well, we we all do. I think we all wanna go there.

So It and we're not bringing it up, but we gotta bring it up. The food.

Yes. We gotta tear it up. Gosh. Alright.

The food to be yeah.

Our our father is a vegetarian, but he's also, like, more specifically a pescatarian. Yep. And so, like, we enjoy sushi like fish.

Like fish. Fish.

Yeah. Ramen is always so good. Yeah. Rice dishes, not for dad, but, like, tonkotsu. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. I think it would be I think it would just be remarkable. We'd go each region we would go to and see something different.

That's what I also really love and find really interesting about Japan, when we watch these videos is how, like, each province, each region has, like, a speciality. Yeah. Like, this is the rice province or, like, this is the apple province.

And from the from the, the history side of it Yeah. Every, like, well known business or brand has, like, so much lore and, like Yeah. And, like, has, like, such a reputation and, like, a a story behind it.

And I I think that's something we we kind of miss in America is, like, a deep, rich culture, tradition, and history, where, like, this country has been around for not very long Yeah. At all comparatively to a lot of these other countries like Japan who's been around for much, much longer. And they still have some of those more traditional aspects. And as a tourist is great. Maybe living there, not so great. The, like, paper is still the main way that they do documents and things and stamps.

Well, I think the the other thing is is kind of like England also is that in the United States, you can go 3 hours

and still be in the same state.

Yes. Yes. And

so I think that but you go 3 hours in Japan and you cross over 4 different unique cultural aspects of it.

I mean, especially with the bullet trains, like, you're just going anywhere and everywhere.

Yep. Alright.

Yeah. Yeah. Nick, what do you what do you got here? Okay.

Really quick off tangent

or,

yeah, yeah. Tangent. If I was gonna choose Japan if you didn't. Yeah.

Right? I I agree. Yeah.

Yeah. But, I'm I'm choosing a a want a location that I was like, there's a chance you guys think about it, and I don't want you to cause I wanna go there. I wanna be that one. And I this is my number one. This is the place. If I was offered, we're going right now, I'd I take it in a heartbeat. I would I think it is it would be a one of a kind experience. I wanna go to Antarctica so badly, so badly. I think it would be, first off, getting there. Yeah. It it there isn't an easy way.

Right. Right? I'm throwing up on the ship. Right?

I'm I'm taking weird seaplanes. I'm meeting up with, like, ice cutters or ice breakers. I'm I'm I'm going on, like, expedition boats Yep. To even get there.

Yeah. And you're you're totally, you know, wrapping up yourself and it's cold everywhere.

Yeah. You, you know, you keep going down and just the degree starts going negative.

Question. Has this idea been brought on by a place, further than the universe? Of course it has. Okay.

Of course it has. Of course it has. Of course. Okay. But I think it sort of opened my eyes to yeah. That would be a one of a kind experience to go to.

Also, if you haven't seen that and if you haven't watched it by now, A Place Further Than the Universe is so good. It will make you wish that you did a adventure after high school.

Like, I

I don't know.

During high school.

During high school. Oh, my God.

It's just, like, it's it's so good. It's a magical trip, but they do go to they go to Antarctica. And, god, it's so I would love to go there for many reasons. I think, I think it's a similar experience because we we went to Iceland last year. Yes, we did. And we were, like, wow, this feels like otherworldly on, like, the My god, this is insane. It feels it it feels like you're on a different world. Like, the terrain, the experience, the prices. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, $18 for a hot dog isn't normal.

You cannot I you cannot travel there. You cannot travel there.

We should have eaten the puffin.

But but Antarctica, I feel like it's it's a place that is, like, untouched.

Well, that we we had talked about this because to me, the idea of standing in the middle of thousands of penguins would just be such a weird thing to do. Yeah. But it would be so appealing to me.

Yeah. I agree. You know? I I feel like it's like if you go to Egypt, and you you are looking at the Sahara.

Yep.

I want that, but with ice. Right? Like Yeah. Looking at looking at, like, the the span of just never ending ice, glaciers, and, you know, snow, so fascinating.

Yeah. It it it is. I mean, it's probably not on the list of a lot of peoples.

No. Yeah.

To go a list. I feel

like they don't think about it, but but, like, you don't get a cultural experience. You don't get a food experience. You Yeah. You aren't there to meet the people. Right? Right? Like, the people there are are are nerds.

Language. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're they're they're well, they are nerds. Like, hello. Yeah. I'm doctor Johnson. I've been studying these ice melts for the last 3 years.

Yeah. But but it's like going there once, you're you're just there for the place. And I feel like that calls to me the most.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what Madagascar is for me. It's the place.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's the nature of it. It's the so different than what we live today. What was it like 20000 years ago?

Yeah. A

100000 years ago? And that's I think that's what you

when you see Antarctica, that's what you think. Yeah.

I I wanna see a place that's, like, hasn't been touched and it can't be touched, because it's like it feels like nature is really trying to preserve this Yeah. This this moment. This place. This place, and honestly, like, I feel like I wanna go, it's like so badly. I think I think conditions might suck. I think I think for the most part, I might hate a lot of it. Yeah. But like I feel I feel like it's like one of those life changing places to go to.

Yeah. I mean, I think that a lot of those trips, they they take you out in a little rubber boat and you go see whales and stuff like that.

Yeah.

Which is I think it would be I'm with you. I would love to do that just because it it would be so unworldly.

Yeah. I I think that's that's what I I would search for. I think my other two choices, I'm like, I feel like I would enjoy the heck out of it and I would gain a lot of new experiences. Yeah. But I think Antarctica going there would be I would not be surprised if I came back and I saw the world differently. Differently.

Alright. I think also if you went with a group of people that, like, that group would kinda solidify itself. Like, I I think if you went with your, like, close group of friends, like, you guys would I think you guys are already friends for life, but, like, solidify that in a in a different way.

Yeah. It's like it's you've you've you've together seen something Yeah. That, like, you can't, like, describe.

Yeah. You you you can't even, like, put that into words Right. Or describe. Alright, dad. What what do you got? Close us out here. So I I am going to do the kind of the same experience that you talked about. Okay. Yeah. I don't even know how you get to the same experience. You're going

to the Arctic. I had You're going to the North Pole. Hold on.

I I had a tie with my number 1. Okay. And I'm gonna tell you what my number one is and I'll tell you why my my other number one I didn't select.

Okay. Okay. So

So my number one is I would love to go to Nepal, climb the Himalayans, and go to the monastery up there. And I think for the same reason.

Again, a very outdoorsy experience.

It is very outdoorsy, but it would be something that I would expect to impact me completely.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I don't think that the there will be cultural impact with the people around you.

For sure.

Absolutely.

But it's not gonna be a food scene. It's not gonna be there there may be good food.

All that salt?

Yeah. But I think that but I think that doing that that process of going to the monastery up in the Himalayas

Yeah.

And having that time to just be quiet and to to meditate, which is so contrary to my I

was just about to say, like, I'm I'm not laughing because of, like, the meditation or the temple scene. I'm laughing because thinking of you We're

inserting you into those souls.

So I am I am frantic most of the time.

Undiagnosed ADHD. Yeah. Undiagnosed. I

think it's basically diagnosed at this point.

But but you know, I just think that it would be one of those trips where, like you said from Antarctica, you would you would come back a different person.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm Batman.

I hope you don't come back as Batman.

But but I I would at least I would hope it would impact me that way.

I think it would.

And I think that I think the people around me there would be I would I would see a different cultural experience than I'm used to.

Yeah.

Yeah. Alright. So here's my one b.

Okay.

One b. Okay.

Okay. And the reason I didn't select it is because it's not on earth. I would love to go to space. Okay? And this is this is one of my it's a lot like going on a submarine to me. Yeah. It's the isolation. It's the total, you know, the things around you are out of your control.

Yeah.

If you're in the water greater than 400 feet, whatever. Yep. You know that outside of you is all danger.

Right.

There's there's no way you could survive. If you're in space, I saw an article of this billionaire went up and, you know, of course, he can

afford it, but Was it Jeff Bezos?

No. It was a different guy

that went

up there.

And he said he looked down at earth and he saw it. This is a remarkable incredible view. And then he looked to the right and he saw just darkness. And it was terrifying, but it was terrifying in its immensity and also in its total lack of life. And he said, when people talk about going to Mars or whatever, it's thrilling to think about, but you also know that there's inherent danger in doing that. And I think that going to space would be one of those, once again, life changing experiences

Yeah.

Where you would go, this is remarkable to be up here. And and it's remarkable that probably not in my lifetime I'm gonna see that people are gonna be out here traveling. Yeah. You know? And not any different than when Christopher Columbus said, I'm gonna cross the Atlantic Ocean to get to India.

Yeah. And he messed up real bad. He messed

up real bad. But but can you imagine looking out over the ocean and going, everyone else believes I'm gonna fall off the edge.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know? I think that that kind of experience is just impossible to copy.

Yeah. That's true. I think space being your, like, kind of second picker, like, your runner-up, your honorary mention kind of makes sense because I think for a lot of these trips, they are within our means. Right. I think monetarily, we're like an upper middle class family, and so we have the ability to travel like we do, which I'm so grateful for. I think space is outside of our means. Unless you're willing to volunteer to not come back. Right. Yeah. And I'm not I'm not there yet.

No. But I mean and and although he says that, and I feel extremely gratified that the when I I got out when when I before I graduated high school, I joined the Navy. Yeah. Because I saw that there was no opportunity out there for me. I had no money that we came from very poor beginnings.

Yeah. I was like, after that.

I get a job that travels that I get to travel to Europe all the time. It's just it's it's remarkable in my mind. And then I married someone that's from Germany. That added on to my me being able to go to Germany all the time. So I am I'm when I turn 60 next year, it is definitely going to be I can't believe what I've done in the last 40 years.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, looking back at at everything that has happened. It's hard to believe. And and Remarkable.

What so the thing that I'm proudest of it I love that the travel, but the proudest thing that I am that I have is that I was able to take you guys to Germany quite a few times. Yeah. Now you may not remember all the times. Nope. Because I I did so much stuff while we were here in Germany.

I I will say I think that it was very important that we went to, like, Germany or that we, like, traveled a lot when we were younger. I don't remember a lot of them, but I will say our most memorable, like, trip to Germany specifically was when Nick and I went alone for our cousin's wedding. I remember that trip a lot.

And and your parents were sweating bullets.

Yeah. I remember they were like, oh my gosh. Is is Nick gonna make it through security? And it was me trying with a, cup of,

like White powder.

Yeah. Yeah. White powder, homemade hot chocolate, just getting stopped at the TSA. But I I think that trip in general was, like, really good because Nick and I were was the first time we were traveling alone without y'all or without, like, a teacher or something like that. And, we got to live in Munich for a little bit. We were at our our uncle's apartment in Munich, going through, like, oh my god. How do I turn on the stove?

Wait. Hold on. Hold on. That's a

that's a different story because we got a text in America. How do we turn on this stove? It was bad.

It was really bad.

That didn't make any sense. I didn't

know how to turn it on. We thought we

were doing the right things, and then it wasn't working.

And then the cousin came over and helped him.

Yeah. Yeah. And we made the most college meal, and we can say that because We did. Because we have gone to college and eaten those college meals, and we combined a spicy salsa and and a red marinara, and dumped it over pasta right in front of our our cousin. And she was like, wow, that's good. It was

I can't believe she put up with this.

Yeah. So, yeah, so I think our trip in December is gonna be great because we're gonna see the cousins again. Only this time, there's 4 Yeah. Little cousins now. So

It's kind of weird to think about, like, growing up. I know, like, we looked up to the cousins as being, like, the those kind of older cousins that were, like, oh, they're so cool. And now they're, like, settling down and having families. And that's kind of mind blowing to me, especially when, like, my friends are getting married. And it's like, oh my gosh. Like, are you sure? Yes. Anyways

But but travel, I think we could have made you and I at least Yeah. Could have made 20 locations.

I know. There there is we haven't seen enough of the world. And you, I think, have been very lucky in, like, your work as well as, like, being in the Navy and being able to travel a lot and mom in the same way. But also, I think mom kind of laments the fact that she's traveled for work and not necessarily seen those places as a tourist or or had as much like freedom where she's like, yeah, I've been to this place and I had like a a bus tour, but I didn't really get to like boots on the ground, look around. Yeah.

I think that's a big thing is when you travel for work, you get one day, one night, one afternoon

Yeah.

To travel these places. I mean, there was a couple times like in France, me and the guy got a car and we did we toured Southern France wineries

Yeah.

For a week. Oh my gosh. That sounds awesome.

That that would be great. Before I got out of the Navy, I did 3 days at a penthouse in Puerto Rico. So Yeah. We, you know, it was it you do those things once in a while, but in general, they're hit and miss. Like, we went to Mallorca, and we were off the coast, and we were only there for 2 days.

Yeah.

But you're not you're not really like Morocco, I just took took the boat across, went to Morocco for an afternoon and came back.

I wanna I wanna go to Morocco. I

Whatever whatever. Morocco would so there's a lot of places I'd like to go back to. Like Yeah. Gibraltar, Morocco, I'd love to go back to. Yeah. Vancouver, I'd love to go back to. Yeah. I'd

love to go to Canada. Why haven't we gone to Canada yet?

Oh, we did. Well, I mean, if we go to Canada, we'll take the train from Ottawa and go all the way over

to Canada. See, that sounds fun.

But in any case Yeah.

Yeah. I I think we're we're losing the plot here.

I think if you are listening, if you are enjoying, I think our conversation should be a a call to adventure. I think I think no matter what, I think you should be impassioned, emboldened by us, engaging in this topic. I think at the very least, you should be like, where where would I wanna go? Right? And it doesn't have to be a country, it doesn't have to be Yeah.

Yeah.

I think I think at the very least, this episode should inspire a call Yeah. To to do something or to at least, like, humor the the, adventure inside of you.

And and the call to adventure can be anything. I mean

It could be a new item on a menu that you've been

Yeah. Yeah. And not not to put Nick on, you know, food. Not to put Nick on the spotlight here, but Nick took a a short road trip through West Virginia, and went and touched Mothman's butt, basically. Yeah. Stopped into town, find found a statue of Mothman with The Mothman statue. The Mothman statue with, you know, friends and went and sit at a cabin, just kinda had fun, had some drinks, played card games

Yeah.

Went for hikes. Like, things we're talking about places that are typically outside of our means unless we've saved up some money. We've kind of squirreled away some money to to go and explore. Like, Germany has been something that we've been going back and forth about, and it's something that we've planned out. Specifically, you, dad, have planned out Yeah.

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Take it easy, guys.

Did he hit me with the the snaps? And I was like, oh my god.