Erin and Kattie discuss what constitutes a "New World Wonder," and why Egypt refused to participate in the contest to decide what would appear on this list.

We also dive into the sticky world of travel scams, and react to a hilarious before/after backpacking trend blowing up on TikTok.

POSTCARD episodes come out mid-month, between each regular episode of Curious Tourism. Catch candid discussions on the latest in travel-related media and hot-button topics.

Send your questions or commentary to the show on Instagram @curioustourismpod or email erin@pinatravels.org

If you're a fan of the show, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review Curious Tourism: Responsible Travel Podcast.

Read Erin's award-winning blog, Pina Travels.

Subscribe to Kattie's podcasting newsletter, Pod the North.

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Written and Hosted by Erin Hynes

Produced by Kattie Laur

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What are you talking about?

Well, hello, Katie.

Hello, Erin.

Welcome back to Postcards, where we just share some fun, sometimes insightful travel stories and unpack them as we love to do on Curious Tourism.

This is our second postcard and I'm excited for it.

I found what I think is an interesting story to chat about and yeah, it's just nice to have this like one on one time with you.

Not that I don't love our guests, but, you know, can I just say.

It is nice to be doing these episodes because we, like, in between regular episodes, I come across so many random things and I'm like, oh, we gotta talk about this on the show.

Oh, we gotta talk about this on the show.

Oh, we gotta talk about this on the show.

And we just.

There's not enough time in the world.

So I am pretty pumped about these episodes.

All right, so I have, I think, a good one today, so I'm going to dive right into it.

My media of the month came to me through TikTok.

This is something I've noticed about TikTok versus Instagram.

You get more of the, like, raw venting on TikTok, which I think makes it more interesting in general.

All right, so Katie, do you know the landmark Christ the Redeemer?

Ooh, it sounds familiar.

But all I can think of is the landmark in Brazil with like, the giant Jesus on the hill.

Is that the one?

That's Christ the Redeemer?

Okay, so it's a massive, like, art deco statue of Jesus Christ.

It's in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and it's positioned on top of Corcovado Mountain, which is just outside the city.

So from what I can tell, I haven't been to Brazil, but what I can tell is like, you go up there, like, the statue's huge, which is cool.

And then you have a beautiful view I of the city.

And the statue sort of just like looks over the whole city too.

It's a very, like, intense thing.

Yes, yes.

So I stumbled across a video made by pretty well known travel creator Emily from Hudson and Emily, and in it she argues that this landmark should not be included as one of the seven wonders of the World.

Oh, interesting.

So let's hold that thought for a moment because this opened up like a huge rabbit hole for me because to be honest, I haven't thought about the seven world wonders in a really long time.

Growing up, like, I think I was given a book or something about the world wonders, like, at some point.

And I do remember being, like, amazed by the concept and thinking, like, oh, I want to see all of them.

No, this is me, too.

I also had a book.

Yeah, Like, I think we all did.

Like, I'll have to check when they came up with the seven world wonders, but it was, like, in our, like, late childhood, maybe teenagehood.

Yeah.

And I do remember when I visited the colosseum, I was 19 at the time.

And I remember thinking to myself, like, this is so cool because it's my first world wonder, but I don't know that I really thought about it ever since.

Like, that's the last time that I remember, like, thinking about the world wonders.

I'm just like, you bringing up world wonders for me right now is just like, oh, yeah, I forgot those were a thing.

Literally, this was me when I came across this on TikTok.

I was like, oh, yeah.

Like, that's something people talk about.

Do you know what the seven world wonders are?

I feel like I think one of them.

Isn't one of them Niagara Falls?

No, it's not.

Okay, so there's all these different versions of the world wonders.

So we're talking about the seven new world wonders, they call them, but I think Niagara Falls is considered one of the natural world wonders.

Yeah.

I think I'm more familiar with the natural world wonders or something along those lines, because I think I always thought that a world wonder.

And the more I say the world wonder, it sounds weird in my head, but I always thought that that's what a world wonder was.

Was like something that was formed by the earth and was kind of magnificent.

So do you know what the other ones might be?

Is the CN Tower one?

No.

Okay, think older.

The Great Wall of China.

Yes.

So we have the Great Wall of China, Christ the Redeemer, the Colosseum.

There's one that, you know, I've been to.

It's in India.

The Taj Mahal.

Petra in Jordan.

Yes.

Ooh, that's a good one.

That was definitely, like.

I didn't think it at the time, but thinking back, I'm like, yeah, that's definitely a world wonder.

Yeah.

Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza in Mexico.

Yeah.

So those are the seven.

Okay, this is a pervasive question.

Do you think that all these landmarks should be on the list of world wonders?

I don't know.

I think it just depends on what your definition of a world wonder is.

Because for me, like, I can't help but feel like a part of the natural world should be incorporated in there for me.

Like Petra is a really cool example because it's like built into like stone, right?

Or I don't know.

I have no idea.

Okay, neither did I.

So we're gonna talk about the criteria for being a world wonder, please.

The first thing to mention is that these are the new world wonders.

I didn't mention this, but it's an important point.

The old seven Wonders of the World refers to a list from ancient times that was created by Greek historians to highlight remarkable human made structures, mostly in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

The only thing left over from that old list is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which you might notice is missing from the New World wonders.

The seven Wonders of the World.

There is no official or consistent set of criteria for being named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

And this is because the list was created through global public vote that was organized by a private foundation.

Oh, interesting.

So this is where the criticism comes in.

Selections were based largely on popularity, visual impact, and just like global recognition, instead of a set of criteria that some people argue should be historical and cultural and like of architectural significance.

A lot of people assume that there's like a connection between UNESCO and the new Wonders of the World.

There's nothing.

Unlike UNESCO's process, the selection process for the seven world wonders does not involve any expert evaluation.

It doesn't involve any standardized heritage criteria to circle back to Christ the Redeemer.

In her video, Emily argues that this landmark doesn't deserve to be a world wonder because it's not very old compared to the other landmarks on the list.

Okay.

It was built less than 100 years ago and it's not the tallest statue of Jesus Christ in the world.

So it doesn't really stand out for that point either.

And after I found Emily, I was like, oh, I wonder what like other people on TikTok are saying about this.

And I found that this is actually like a widely held view on TikTok.

Like a lot of people are making videos arguing that Christ the Redeemer shouldn't be included.

And the main argument is that it isn't pre industrial, it's a modern statue.

And if you compare it to everything else like Petra, these wonders are ancient or at least centuries old, and a lot of them have major significance historically.

The other criticism is that it's Very religiously symbolic, which some people think shouldn't be part of the criteria.

The focus should be it being a feat of ancient engineering or large scale construction like the Great Wall of China.

Like that was like a huge accomplishment.

It's insane.

You can argue like building Christ the Redeemer was a lot easier because we had all this technology.

A quick side note.

So the Pyramid of Giza is not in the list, which is like probably the most blatant thing.

Like, I think the average person you talk to would assume that the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is part of this list.

The reason it's not is because Egypt rejected the new 7Wonders campaign.

And Egypt argued that ancient heritage shouldn't be subject to a popularity vote.

They also said in a statement that the Great Pyramid doesn't need revalidation.

It's already a world wonder.

And I was like, I love this.

Thank you, Egypt.

Thank you for saying it out loud.

That's great because honestly, I've never been, but I've seen photos from numerous friends who've gone and even just from the photos, it's like pretty wonderful.

Listen, you all know that I'm not a conspiracy theorist by like any stretch, but I do love some ancient aliens.

So I just love watching like people theorize about how the pyramids and other ancient structures were built.

Oh, another interesting side note, when Luke and I were on our world trip, we didn't go to Egypt.

It was like a big part of our plan to go.

And the reason we didn't is because they introduced literally like two months before we left on the trip, new visa requirements that involved like having to go physically to like an office in Canada to get your visa.

And we would have had to travel like quite far and stay somewhere for a week to get these visas.

So we sadly had to cancel it.

But we discovered recently that they have removed this.

It's back to the E visa.

So that's good news for us anyways.

So the last thing I've seen creators argue about this list is that Christ the Redeemer may have made it onto the list because Brazil had a huge voting push.

They had a massive marketing campaign around it and around having like its own citizens vote for it to be part of the seven World Wonders.

So people argue that it made it onto list because of that versus historical importance.

So with all this, what do you think?

I'm not particularly a Fan of popularity contests.

Me neither.

That's why this is a tough question.

So it's a really hard.

A hard question.

I'm obviously feeling a little bit of a type of way when it comes to like one sort of religion being held to like the highest standard on a global front.

And I kind of agree too that it should be more ancient things that are in this list or that should qualify to be in the running at least.

Because to me, what makes a world wonder is something that's like stood the test of time.

And yeah, one that like the natural world is part of the natural world too, in some capacity is like built with nature in mind.

Yeah, just like we'll stand the test of time.

I literally just googled.

Was Christ the Redeemer hard to build?

It was challenging, yes.

It's on like a hilltop, it's on a mountain.

It's been really challenging.

Yeah.

Like, one thing that's like standing out to me here is that like the Great Wall of China and the pyramids were likely built with slaves.

And that is something that, I don't know.

I'm not 100% sure because it was the 30s, whether or not Christ the Redeemer was built with maybe it was built like in a more ethical way when it comes to like labor or something like that, but I have no idea.

This is something that I think is worth looking into.

Yeah, I do think the criteria should probably be set at the very least, like for this.

It shouldn't just be a popularity contest in my mind, like they would all be pre industrially built just because it ties them all together.

I think the Colosseum is a solid choice, especially since it's like it's just still there in some capacity, like even like planks of wood.

That's the thing I wanted to say about this.

I feel I haven't been to Christ the Redeemer, so I don't know how I feel like seeing it.

But I know that all the other ones that I've seen, like the Taj Mahal, definitely Petra, definitely the Coliseum, like when I saw these things, I was blown away by, by the fact that I knew they had been there for so long and that people had like lived life around these structures.

I don't know, like that tripped me out about them.

And I don't know that Christ the Redeemer would like awaken that same feeling in me.

Who knows though?

Not for another few centuries at least.

And I feel like it gets murky to say this, but like, maybe historians should decide, but then I think to myself, historians are biased, so I don't know if that works either.

I like the idea of what places in the world has made the public like constantly be like, wow, this is amazing.

Because, like.

And maybe that's why the idea was to do a public vote.

Exactly.

But I feel like public votes and popularity contests are always sort of like skewed in some direction anyway.

Like, whoever has the best marketing, whoever has like the most resources to put towards marketing and all that stuff.

I don't know if the seven wonders of the world are ranked by like number one to number seven.

So if it was just a blank slate of seven, that's nice because there's not one that's sort of better than others.

Why seven?

I hate to say it, but, like, I don't think this list should exist.

Like, there's way more than seven wonders, if you ask me.

There's so many humans, we're just obsessed with lists.

Like, yeah, can we just agree there's tons of world wonders?

Because there are.

Well, I wanted to ask you this.

Like, what do you think should be on the list that's not.

Well, I was just going to say I personally am a fan of the natural wonders of the world.

Obviously Niagara Falls is one.

Any of like the glaciers that are around the world could qualify.

The coral reefs and that type of stuff.

Like, I don't know, I'm more into like the nature side of things.

Mount Everest.

Mount Everest.

The problem is that the natural side is that they become places that people want to visit more and more.

If you were to put them on a list, I mean, all of these places are still places that people are over visiting anyway.

But I don't know, I'm just like, I like the natural side of things.

I would add.

I mean, obviously, I know Egypt said they don't need to be on the list, but I do think that the Great Pyramid should be on the list.

Putting you on the list.

Anyway.

I also would add Bagan because it used to be the capital of the pagan kingdom in Myanmar.

And what makes it so special is it's like this massive number of temples, like more than 2,000 of them, which are scattered across this beautiful landscape.

And the temples are over a thousand years old and there's just so many of them.

It's like the volume of them that is so wild.

You'll be up on one temple and you'll look out and there's just so many temples everywhere.

And it's one of the most important, like, cultural and religious sites in the country.

And that was just like a place that always stood out to me that, like, wow, I really felt the wonder.

Okay.

Some people say Angkor Wat, which, yeah, it's a temple in Cambodia.

Like a very popular, well known temple.

That really is amazing.

And it's worth noting that a lot of these are all religious sites too.

But they're not religious symbolism.

That's what I was reading is like, the criticism.

It's like you couldn't have, like, a statue of Buddha, but like a space that's, like, built for worship but not religious symbolism itself.

Like, a temple is.

Okay, that was like, the argument.

But I don't know, you could really get into the weeds about that.

I know.

There's also another site that I think is interesting that a lot of people don't know about is Gunang Padang in West Java in Indonesia, which, like, there's claims that this is the remnants of a prehistoric pyramid that dates back to 27,000 years ago, which would make it, like, significantly older than the pyramids in Egypt.

So I feel like that that could belong on the new 7 wonders list.

I think this is a blog post that's calling your name, Erin.

Petition peanutravels.

Really?

My petition was to, like, do away with the list and just agree that, like, the entire world is a wonder.

Yeah.

This is actually an open letter.

Ye.

Well, so that's.

That's my.

I'm so glad you brought that because I haven't thought about the wonders of the world in so long, and it is such an important part of the travel industry, I think.

I think still, like, a lot of the public is still maybe basing some of their travel decisions on, like, can we see?

Oh, there's definitely.

And I found this on TikTok too.

There's definitely people out there that are, like, purposefully traveling to all of the seven Wonders.

Okay.

Should I share my media of the month?

It's about scams.

I came across a video on Instagram and I just want to read you the caption of it and then we can, like, unpack this because it's made me sort of like, think about what we mean by scams and what we qualify as a scam and who we qualify scams to.

So I'm going to read this to you.

I'm not going to mention who the creator is because I don't want anyone to, like, come for them or anything like that.

Okay.

My husband and I were walking to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City.

We were about two minutes away from the Museum when we got approached by a guy holding a bamboo stick carrying coconuts.

He started talking to my husband, shaking hands, asking him questions, being really friendly.

Then he offered for my husband to hold the stick carrying the coconuts, which my husband did.

After a minute or so, he took the stick back, but put it down on the floor, opened the case, and handed me a coconut.

Both my husband and I tried to refuse, but he was very insistent, so I took the coconut.

He then took another coconut out and started to slice it open.

Something about this in that moment felt wrong, and I also knew that nothing in this world is free.

He would open the coconuts, hand them to us, and then he was free to charge us whatever he felt like.

In that moment, I became insistent and said, no thank you, and handed him the coconut back.

Suddenly, the smile on his face vanished and he seemed so annoyed.

Without another word, my husband and I quickly walked away.

When I came home, I researched this and realized that this is a common scam and that many people, unfortunately do fall prey to it.

I have since gone down a rabbit hole of all these scams in Vietnam and have stopped engaging when we are approached on the streets.

Always remember that nothing is ever free.

Always follow my instincts not to engage with anyone that approaches me on the street.

Always do my research and go through the official channels, especially when booking sites or tours, etc.

Have you had any experiences like this?

So this, to me stood out because for some reason, as I was reading that caption in the video, I couldn't help but compare it to, like, how we think about scams in North America and, like, a scam.

To me, I think people are always sort of sussing out scams from, like, used car salesmen.

Or even these days, like, we're telling our parents that, like, AI might call you and it might sound like me, and they might tell you that I'm being held for ransom for $5,000 and, like, not trust them.

And so, like, with my parents and I, we've set up, like, a code word because my voice is on the Internet enough that people could probably mimic it.

And so when I think about this video and how the scam in this case is, like, this guy sort of tricked you into giving him, what, like, 20 bucks for a coconut, paying for, like, a couple of coconuts, and the severity of, like, her messaging around it, I'm like, I don't know.

It makes me feel icky about, like, saying that people in Vietnam are putting out all these, like, hardcore scams to really screw over tourists and People when it's.

It's kind of just like taking advantage of them a little bit.

But I don't know if I would call it like a scam.

Like, I think most sales tactics are a little bit tricky, but I don't know to like, put this, this messaging out to say like, don't talk to anyone who approaches you to me is like, crazy.

That's crazy talk.

The ide travel experiences to get to know people of the place that you're visiting.

I don't know.

How do you feel about this?

I agree with you to a degree.

But because this is the thing, you've been to Vietnam and I haven't.

I've been to many countries where scams like these are extremely prevalent.

And it is very true that you have to be very cautious when people approach you.

But I will say you kind of develop like, I don't know, like, radar for it, I guess.

Like, I feel as though Luke and I have like a radar about what kind of approach is happening.

A good telltale sign is if they're holding things, if they're holding anything, you know, they're gonna try to get you to take it or like, I don't know, you just kind of develop radar around it.

And I have fallen for these scams, like, in my early days of travel.

I definitely did.

I think this is just like a universal experience.

And the other thing is, like, these quote unquote scams have been happening for time immemorial all across the world.

And they will continue to.

It's just part.

It's part and parcel with, like, travel.

It's just going to happen.

Yeah.

Like, for the longest time, this has been part of the marketplace.

Yeah.

It reminds me of like the classic, like, taxi quote unquote scam, like, that happened to Luke and I all the time.

You overpay for a taxi and it's like you say, it's like in the whole scheme of things, like.

Yes.

Does it feel frustrating to feel as though you were taken advantage of?

Yes.

But in the scope of a trip, the amount of money that comes of these scams generally isn't that high.

Although there are some that do snowball into very expensive and arguably dangerous scams.

There's like more complex scams that I've heard of happening.

Yeah.

So I don't want to, like, minimize the potential for these to become like, more devastating.

But yeah, these, like, sort of on the street, someone approaches you and hands you something.

Situations like, yeah, like, if you, if you end up falling for it, just like, pay some money and move on, I guess.

Yeah.

I looked up the definition of a scam to see, like, is this.

Are we really calling it what it is?

And this is just from like Oxford Dictionary.

And a scam is a dishonest scheme or fraud.

And then as an example, it put like an insurance scam.

And it also used the word.

The verb is to swindle.

And it was used a guy that scams the elderly out of their savings.

So this is where I was like, these are much more significant, like, bundles of money that like a scam is sort of like inferring just in the examples.

I guess a scam could really be like, also a $20 bill.

But I don't know, it just feels icky to me when it's sort of like.

I guess it's sort of.

There must be like a.

A lot of these, like, sort of street vendors who are doing this.

But it just feels weird to me when it's like being referred to like people in specific countries versus, like, kind of what we deal with all the time in North American capitalism is like, we're dealing with scams on a regular basis and like, we can't even really trust the corporations that we're supposed to buy insurance.

I think what upsets people about it, because I've seen posts like this too.

I think what gets people upset about it is, like, you do know that it's happening because people have clocked you as a Westerner who has money to spend.

But like, that, I'm sorry, is just the reality of traveling in other countries.

Like, we have a lot of privilege and people can see that at the end of the day, like paying $10 for a coconut, like, whatever.

And if somebody, you know later on that day asks you to carry their coconuts, I mean, it's a cool picture.

Fallen for it one time.

So maybe you could say, like, I already had a coconut today.

I mean, we don't, we don't know.

They didn't say in the post, like, how much they were asked for.

Yeah, because that would be interesting information to know.

But yeah, also in those scenarios, like, I don't know, I'm sure there's like a level of like, fear that you might feel like just being like, no and walking away, like this couple did, like, they didn't pay for the coconuts or anything like that.

But I can Imagine, like, some people feel, like, a level of fear to walk away.

But, I mean, it is an option.

Like, you can just sort of say, like, no, I didn't want this, and kind of continue on.

Compared to, like, scams in.

I keep bringing back to, like, insurance scams or scams where people, like, call you and stuff and take, like, all of your credit card information to, like, the elderly kind of thing.

Yeah, that's different.

Like, I feel like that's what I'm saying.

Like, that to me, I.

It's a scam.

That, to me, is a scam.

That, to me is fraud.

And comparing it to these little instances, to me, I don't know, it feels like there's microaggressions there, but it's hard to point out.

Exactly.

I don't know.

I've never really thought about this in depth.

The big one is the bracelet one.

Someone will come to you and put a bracelet on you, and you're like, oh, this is so nice and beautiful.

And then they want money.

But I'm trying to think of what we've done when this has happened to us.

The thing is, it doesn't happen to us that often anymore because I feel like Luke and I's radar is so, like, locked in now.

From what I recall, like, it definitely happened to us a couple times in India, and I'm pretty sure we just paid, like, some money, not always exactly what they asked for.

And that would always, like, just end it.

Like, they got something.

We moved on.

I don't know if I would ever, like, walk away from that entirely.

Like you say, I would be too nervous.

But I think you're right.

I don't think this constitutes a scam.

Scam.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those do exist, though.

They do exist.

They do exist.

On the travel scene.

These don't count, I don't think.

Yeah.

The bar thing is something that I've seen in my research on Japan as well, is like, being careful of people who invite you for a night out kind of thing.

Yeah.

Also some of these things, especially in larger cities too, where things are a bit busier, can be risky for human trafficking.

That's stuff to look out for.

But these little, like, coconut experiences landing you on, like, do not trust people.

Nothing in this world is free.

Is just, like, kind of.

Kind of audacious to me.

She's not wrong, though.

It is true.

I will say, like, if you're gonna get anything for free or accept.

Accept anything from someone for free, maybe it's somebody that you've known for at least, like, a day kind of thing.

Because gift giving is a nice and beautiful thing that humans should do more.

But if it's in, like, a marketplace or it's sort of, like, off the street and somebody that you've never met before that's giving you a gift, I think it's safe to assume that it's maybe not a gift.

I think that's the key.

The terms of the interaction.

If someone has just come out of nowhere and approached you, you're pretty safe to assume, like, this is a quote unquote scam.

But, like, I'm thinking about other times where I've had, like, really nice interactions with people where they've given me things, like, while traveling, mostly food.

And those are interactions that came out of, like, they started out as just, like, us seeing, like, making eye contact and then starting to chat.

And, like, it didn't.

The launch wasn't like, take this thing from me.

It, like, evolved into that, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

There was a relationship built for a little bit.

I'm going back to the radar thing.

I think you can develop, like, a bit of radar around this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I would almost call it paid experience.

Radar rather than scam radar.

You can have.

You can have scam radar, too.

I think that's important.

I think having scam radar is very important.

It's funny, I will say, like, I always get such a kick out of this.

I think it's so hilarious sometimes.

I've seen, like, I saw this a lot in Morocco.

Tourists that are, like, approaching these people, like, because they want to pay for.

That experience, and they will gladly accept it, too.

Right.

Like, this is a horrible thing that happens in Marrakesh, but there's a lot of people there with captive monkeys, and if you get too close to them or they're snakes, they will put these animals on you, and they will demand that you pay them.

And I absolutely hate this.

I hate everything about it.

I hate that these animals are captive.

And I also am terrified of monkeys and snakes.

And so I steer majorly clear every time I've been in Marrakesh, but I've literally seen tourists, like, go to them because they.

They want to.

Yeah.

So it's kind of funny when you see that go down.

Okay, well, that was all I had to share about scams.

I thought it was interesting.

Thought there was some bold language in there about just, like, avoiding this stuff altogether.

Yeah.

Nothing in this world is free.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Aaron, I had one more thing to share with you before I wrap up.

Here.

I actually saw this on a newsletter they were linking to.

Like, it' said, we love this travel glow up trend that's circulating on TikTok.

And this glow up trend is the before and after of people who've gone backpacking for, like, a significant period of of time.

Like, either a month to, like seven months kind of thing.

And so there's been some funny observations that I had.

I scrolled through, like, so many videos and it's all done to this song that's like, I think it's about people dying, actually, but it's like, so pack up.

You caught it a da da da da.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've seen this on TikTok.

Yeah, you're the greatest thing we've lost.

And I'm like, is backpacking, like, something that people are losing their friends to?

Anyway, so some funny observations that I sent your way that I thought would be funny to talk about.

Just the amount of people who've returned in elephant pants and, like, full hippie attire.

A lot of them in particular being, like, white dudes who've just like, suddenly dropped their toxic masculinity and re entered the world as, I don't know, full on hippies.

It's really funny.

Also, I thought you would get a kick out of this.

A lot of people coming back with no backpack or, like, significantly less gear.

That they left classic.

When we left on our world trip last year, and I told people, like, I'm literally bringing four T shirts.

They thought that was bonkers.

But, like, I just knew.

I knew that.

But if I brought more than that, I was gonna discard it.

So.

Yeah.

And I'm like, some of these are, like, nice backpacks that they're definitely, like, leaving behind.

Hopefully they gave them to somebody and not just, like, threw them in the trash because there's, like, nice backpacking gear.

There's like, a thing in hostels where, like, people will leave things and you can go.

Like, I.

When I stayed in hostels, like, all the time, there would be, like, bins where you could go and, like, look through, like, clothing and bags and stuff that people left behind.

Okay.

Some other things I noticed a lot of people have lost a significant amount of weight on their travels.

I don't know if that's a product of, like, just walking around all of the time because that's exerting, like, a lot of energy or just, like, severely budget traveling.

Oh, my gosh.

Not buying a lot of food for yourself.

I don't know what it is, but, like, clearly people Are, like, definitely losing a ton of weight when they're backpacking.

Yeah.

Which is different from, like, I don't know, some of the regular normal, like, kind of typical travel that people do where, like, you go on vacation and you sort of overindulge and you come back being like, oh, my God.

Yeah.

Meeting salads for, like, 12 weeks, like, I feel so bloated.

Yeah.

I mean, I've.

I've told you that I definitely, like, always lose weight when we're on long trips.

But I. I was thinking about it and, like, it could also be that I probably do eat less because I'm scared to eat.

So that might be part of it.

But Luke also tends to lose weight and he doesn't hold back from eating.

So I actually think it might have to do with the ingredients in the foods that we eat.

Maybe it would depend where in the world you are.

But when I think about our last trip, we were in regions of the world where the food we were eating was definitely grown within a few kilometers of where we ate it.

How nice.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then finally, one of the funnier things that I saw was the amount of couples who had left together and only one of them returned.

Yeah.

Just couples breaking up.

And they say, like, travel is one of the things that you should do as a couple before you get married.

If you ever think about getting married or if you plan to be together for a long time.

Because travel will definitely test your relationship.

Definitely.

Long term travel, that's different too.

We're not talking like a two, three week vacation.

Like, you gotta be in it for.

Like, that's a long trip.

Oh, Katie, you're talking to someone who spent nine months with one person.

24, 7.

That truly is a test of marriage.

Okay, so obviously, like, these.

These tiktoks are really funny.

Like, there's some really funny ones.

There's some really wholesome ones.

Like, people are clearly coming back as changed people.

But this has sparked also just, like, a lot of commentary on these videos about how people are, like, going backpacking to become, like, a changed person.

And we've had whole episodes about this type of thing before, so I won't get into it too much.

But there's some really funny videos that people have now posted where, like, they'll be like, okay, I'm going out for my trip.

And then they, like, walk up their driveway, and then it cuts to them, like, walking back down their driveway as if they literally started backing, like, backpacking from their doorstep.

And, like, the person is, like, in a Completely different outfit, but it was like clearly shot the exact same day and they've come back with like a bandana and elephant pants and like, are just like whimsically jumping around being like, I'm a new person kind of thing.

I mean, it's funny.

It's like, it's a bit of a stereotype, you know.

That is totally a stereotype.

That was definitely me.

Listen, the first like backpacking trip I ever went on, like I was 19, I went backpacking around Europe for three weeks.

Did I come back, like thinking I was a completely different person?

Yes, I did.

But it's because I was 19.

Yes.

And I think actually the majority of these videos I've seen are.

Are people like under the age, really young?

Like, they're younger folks.

It's a really funny set of videos.

Some of them are genuinely hard to tell if like this person is just like sort of making fun of the stereotype or is the stereotype themselves.

Sometimes hippie apparel is hard to tell whether or not it's ironic.

And I say this as a former hippie myself.

Like, I went through a phase of just like, I had a dreadlock once.

Okay, I'll admit it on the show.

I regret every ounce of it.

But I have to just have to be a parent with what I've done in the past.

You know, I can't hide that type of stuff.

So yeah, it's just a funny trend.

And you didn't even need to go on like a multi month backpacking trip.

Toronto.

I just moved to Toronto.

It's always funny to me that moving to the big city is like when people go into their hippie era because, like, it's not like Toronto is like a haven for, for hippies only.

Kensington Market.

Yeah, that's true.

Kensington Market.

And that was pretty much it.

Yeah, it is true that especially like on your early backpacking trips, like you do tend to come back maybe feeling different, looking different.

So I think this trend is like a fun way to just like tap into that fact.

I like the ones where you see, because I've seen a couple where it's like people commenting like, this is what I look like when I was working my full time job and this is me like six months into a backpacking trip.

And I do think that those are pretty interesting because, like, I think you could probably like, I remember when we were like a month and a half into our trip last year, texting Amanda Kendall from the Thoughtful Travel podcast about this and like telling her, like, I'm sleeping so much better.

Yes.

Like, I'm having amazing sleep.

And she was like, it's probably because you're not working.

And I was like, yeah, definitely.

The one other funny video I'll just wrap it up with.

This was this woman who, clearly, she had just gotten back from seven months of traveling, and she's walking through the airport with all of her stuff, and she's clearly exhausted.

She's like, never budget traveling again.

I died.

Yeah.

I think it's time for me to start spending some significant budget because I'm exhausted.

Well, extreme vet travel will do that to you.

Okay, Erin, well, have a lovely rest of your month.

Thanks for this postcard.

We'll catch you in the next one.

Also, like, let us know what you're thinking.

Like, if you're enjoying these, definitely send us a message if there's something you want us to talk about, too.

Like, if you're coming across media during your month and you're like, I want to hear them chat about this, send it our way.

See you in the next one.

All right.

Ciao.

Sam.