Anders
00:00 – 00:23
Exactly. Recording in progress. And I will have a little bit of a larger. There you go. Good. So hello, everybody, and welcome to this fifth episode of Southern Summers and Northern Winters. Hi, Mark. How are you doing? I

Mark
00:25 – 00:34
am terrific, Anders. Another day living the dream, as I said before. Summer’s coming along. The weekend was 35 degrees on Saturday here,

Anders
00:34 – 00:35
and it was

Mark
00:36 – 00:41
rather warm, I must say. Probably a little bit too warm for my liking, but you

Anders
00:41 – 00:42
know what,

Mark
00:42 – 00:43
weather’s

Anders
00:43 – 00:44
a house, there’s an air

Mark
00:44 – 00:44
conditioner,

Anders
00:44 – 00:44
and away

Mark
00:44 – 00:45
we go. Yeah,

Anders
00:45 – 01:16
yeah. It’s a little… It’s a little funny that you say that because here in Munich it’s morning it’s slightly after nine o’clock in the morning and we have frost at night and it’s a crispy clear blue morning but but it’s it’s cold and we’ve had last week we had our first snow of the season so it’s really winter is coming. I actually

Mark
01:16 – 01:33
think that the coldest day I’ve ever been in, it was a beautiful blue morning in Poland. The sun was out and it was like minus 19 degrees. Yes. Yes. I think it’s over. I don’t spend much time in the winter, obviously, like you guys, but it’s generally colder on a clear day, isn’t it?

Anders
01:33 – 01:34
Yeah, it is a

Mark
01:34 – 01:34
cloudy day.

Anders
01:34 – 02:05
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember this reminds me when I was doing, um, In my previous life and career I would occasionally do business trips to Finland and I was attending a meeting far north of the polar circle in a city called Rovaniemi And I don’t know if you’ve been there, Mark, but during the…

Mark
02:05 – 02:06
Apparently

Anders
02:07 – 02:44
Santa Claus lives there, doesn’t he? I was just about to say that. According to the Finns, this is where Santa Claus has his home. I exited the airplane. It was one of those, you know, you stay on the tarmac and there’s a ladder coming or a staircase being rolled up to the airplane and you go out into the air. I mean, really, there’s no gangway or anything. And it was minus 35 degrees. Oh,

Mark
02:44 – 02:46
that’s serious, isn’t it?

Anders
02:46 – 02:54
And I had a, I had a business suit on and didn’t wear my jacket and it was just, Oh, so it was,

Mark
02:55 – 02:55
I’ve never been

Anders
02:55 – 02:56
up there. I’ve

Mark
02:56 – 02:59
been to Helsinki, maybe. Maybe

Anders
02:59 – 03:00
three times actually, but

Mark
03:01 – 03:05
only I only stayed there once and transited there a few times but

Anders
03:05 – 03:05
yeah, my

Mark
03:05 – 03:14
main memory of Helsinki was that it was a very Maybe uninspiring city. There wasn’t too much there to say or do it was just

Anders
03:15 – 03:15
Um drum,

Mark
03:15 – 03:35
I would call it what what time of the year was it that you were there? I was summer I was no I sucked the one thing I actually do remember about Finland And about Helsinki was that I reckon it had the bluest sky of anywhere I’d ever been on a nice sunny day. Like, nice enough city, but somewhere that you wouldn’t need to stay any longer than

Anders
03:35 – 03:37
a couple of days, because there’s all that

Mark
03:37 – 03:44
much there to see in the big picture. The buildings are nice. The esplanade or the promenade that leads down

Anders
03:44 – 03:44
to the wharf

Mark
03:44 – 03:45
is really

Anders
03:45 – 03:45
nice. They often

Mark
03:45 – 03:48
have a market. down in there is a bit of green space, but

Anders
03:48 – 03:49
yeah, other

Mark
03:49 – 03:49
than that, there wasn’t

Anders
03:50 – 03:50
a great

Mark
03:50 – 03:50
deal to do

Anders
03:51 – 03:51
in

Mark
03:51 – 03:51
Helsinki.

Anders
03:53 – 04:47
I’m not sure the Finns would agree, but, but yeah, no, it’s, no, it’s, it’s, um, it’s a, it’s a different culture. It’s a different culture. And, um, even, even within the Scandinavian region in the Nordic region, we, we, Finland is not part of Scandinavia. Scandinavia is just Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. and the Faroe Islands, I guess. The Nordic region includes Finland. But Finland is a different, it really is a different culture. They’re closer to Russia, they’re, you know, bordering up to Russia. But historically, it’s just, we don’t even understand. In Scandinavia, the language branch is more or less the same, you know, Swedes and Norwegians and Danes, they sort of understand each other.

Anders
04:47 – 05:40
At least if, certainly if they want to understand one another, then it’s possible. But Finland, Finnish is a completely different language. I don’t understand a word of Finnish. So yeah, that’s yeah, but but but still, you know, I for one have enjoyed Finland many times on on business trips. And as I said that it can be very, very cold in the winter minus 35 degrees was really the coldest I’ve ever been. So it was all about going down that stairway and into the bus and into the airport terminal and to the hotel and get some warm, appropriate clothes on because it was really cold.

Anders
05:41 – 05:42
It was really cold. I

Mark
05:43 – 05:44
bet

Anders
05:44 – 05:44
it

Mark
05:44 – 05:50
was. Like I said before, I’m not a huge fan of the cold, cold weather, but I’m not a huge fan of the hot,

Anders
05:50 – 05:51
hot

Mark
05:51 – 05:53
weather either. Plan somewhere

Anders
05:53 – 05:53
to live

Mark
05:53 – 06:06
that was 20 to 25 degrees all year round. Yeah over that Okay, so I have actually Yeah Let’s have it I’m always Interested

Anders
06:06 – 06:08
on how people take their kids out

Mark
06:08 – 06:22
of school to travel. Oh, yeah that I know that in Australia. We were able to say sorry

Anders
06:22 – 06:22
bit of background. I

Mark
06:22 – 06:45
took our kids out of school for 13 months to travel full-time one of them was in high school in year eight. So she skipped all of year eight another one was in grade five. So she skipped all of grade five. to travel. I know this is harder in some countries. I remember speaking to you about it and you told me that it’s nearly impossible in Germany. Is

Anders
06:46 – 07:20
that correct? You can’t do that here. No, you have to be present, physically present at school from school year zero to up and including ninth grade. You have to be, it’s obligatory. to go to school. So yeah, we can’t do what you are doing. Because you just have an obligation to educate your kids, right?

Mark
07:21 – 07:27
Pretty much, like, it’s more in Australia, or in Victoria, anyway, where we were, it was more

Anders
07:27 – 07:28
at the whim of

Mark
07:28 – 07:30
the school, not that that probably

Anders
07:30 – 07:32
would have mattered, because in the big picture,

Mark
07:32 – 07:36
you can just take your kids out of school, and

Anders
07:36 – 07:36
if you’re out of the

Mark
07:36 – 07:46
country, then they basically don’t have to be enrolled anywhere. Okay. If you’re in Australia, so basically I could have just withdrawn him from school and left the country obviously

Anders
07:46 – 07:47
still being an Australian

Mark
07:47 – 07:47
citizen with

Anders
07:47 – 07:49
plans to come back, but

Mark
07:49 – 08:16
and they would not have been. There’s nothing that they can do if you if you do it that way, and I know you probably do that anyway, really, but you run the risk, I guess. When you go back to your home base of trying to get your kids back into that school, possibly that would be your only your only downfall, or there may not be a place for them. Oh, yeah, that’s cool. But um, but I’m losing track here. So when we went, we just went to our local school

Anders
08:16 – 08:16
and

Mark
08:16 – 08:20
said, we want to take our kids out of school for 12 months.

Anders
08:20 – 08:22
Yeah. More than happy

Mark
08:22 – 08:48
with that. They said, yep, no worries. actually they were very forthcoming with saying we think that’s a great idea and that they will learn possibly far more on the road traveling than they will in school at that stage because When we travel, we’re not ones to just go and sit on the beach or something like that. Like we like to go to museums and historical sites and do things like that. So they were always going to be learning and the school was,

Anders
08:48 – 08:49
yeah, it was very

Mark
08:49 – 08:51
encouraging for us to do that.

Anders
08:52 – 08:52
Yes.

Mark
08:53 – 09:08
As for doing schoolwork, they supplied us with a little bit of schoolwork here and there. I had really big plans of making him do a lot of school work. And when I say plans, that was the plan. But the plan soon broke down, I must admit.

Speaker 2
09:09 – 09:09
How’s that?

Mark
09:13 – 09:15
Through their reluctance to do any schoolwork.

Speaker 2
09:15 – 09:15
Oh,

Mark
09:15 – 09:25
yeah, and my shorts Short attempts at trying to get them to do a lot of schoolwork sort of Sort of failed a bit in

Anders
09:25 – 09:26
in that

Mark
09:26 – 09:28
retrospect, but you know much to

Anders
09:29 – 09:29
not much to my

Mark
09:29 – 09:33
surprise When they came back, they slotted

Anders
09:33 – 09:34
effortlessly back into

Mark
09:34 – 09:35
school like they had not

Anders
09:36 – 09:36
left

Mark
09:36 – 09:37
school, basically.

Speaker 2
09:39 – 09:40
And I think the year Willow

Mark
09:40 – 09:41
got back to school, she

Speaker 2
09:41 – 09:42
had got an

Mark
09:42 – 09:44
honors award in one of her classes.

Speaker 2
09:44 – 09:47
Marlee was above average in all her classes on her reports. So

Mark
09:48 – 09:52
in the big picture, I don’t actually think it hurt my kids

Speaker 2
09:52 – 09:53
one little bit to take them out of school

Mark
09:54 – 09:57
for 12 months. Possibly what did hurt

Speaker 2
09:57 – 09:57
them though was that

Mark
09:57 – 10:01
after we got back, COVID broke

Speaker 2
10:01 – 10:01
out

Mark
10:01 – 10:01
shortly

Speaker 2
10:01 – 10:02
after

Mark
10:02 – 10:02
and they

Speaker 2
10:02 – 10:02
were

Mark
10:02 – 10:02
basically

Anders
10:03 – 10:03
out of school

Mark
10:03 – 10:07
for another 12 months. That was probably the more detrimental part. So,

Anders
10:08 – 10:08
but yeah, but

Mark
10:08 – 10:15
so I don’t know. I know England also have a fine system for taking the kids out of school as well.

Anders
10:17 – 11:32
Do you know why the Germans think like they do in this regard? It’s because it goes back to, this is just what I’ve heard. And if there are any Germans listening in, they can comment, please do. But from what I’ve heard, it’s that it was after the Second World War, the Germans wanted to make sure that everybody got a proper education, a proper basic education, without any indoctrination, religious or political, so that the reasons for Second World War couldn’t be repeated. So the goal is to have an unbiased, fundamental education for everybody. And in order for that to happen, back then, they thought, you need to be present so we can make sure that everybody gets this.

Anders
11:36 – 12:41
I guess it does make sense, particularly in Germany, where they really do not want to forget what happened during the Second World War. They no longer feel guilty, I guess, this current generation, I mean, this happened, this was something that their great grandparents and grandparents, they, you know, were part of. So today’s modern generation, they really don’t feel any guilt. But they do feel an obligation to not forget in order for things not to repeat. So this is the reason why they want everybody to go to school and physically be present. Another thing which is beneficial now, because I can compare this to my native Denmark, where, like in Australia, you have you have a sort of an obligation to educate your child, but you don’t have to be physically present at school.

Anders
12:44 – 13:36
There is a chance for some migrants to sort of create or immigrants to sort of create a parallel community where they can, you know, teach their kids whatever they want to teach them without having to send them to an official public school. And it happens in Denmark. It can’t happen in Germany because all children that are officially here with a license to stay or a permit, they have to go to school. They have to go to a German school. So I guess that’s sort of the upside of it all. You can’t make these parallel communities.

Mark
13:37 – 13:40
So you can’t homeschool in Germany?

Anders
13:40 – 13:44
No, it’s not allowed. Yep.

Mark
13:45 – 13:46
That is pretty strict, isn’t it, I guess.

Anders
13:46 – 13:48
Yeah, it is. Homeschooling is

Mark
13:48 – 13:50
a big, big movement these days, like

Anders
13:50 – 13:50
in lots

Mark
13:50 – 13:51
of countries,

Anders
13:51 – 13:51
I

Mark
13:51 – 13:52
think.

Anders
13:53 – 14:34
And this is what you can do in Denmark. You are allowed to homeschool in Denmark, but it’s not, it’s, I don’t think it’s highly regarded because again, this then falls on the parents and their ability to do this properly. I can understand. And Denmark is a small country. I mean, there’s the distance compared to, for instance, Australian distances. I mean, in Denmark, within, I would say, 20 minutes, there’s a public school, no matter where you live. It’s different in Australia, so homeschooling obviously is

Mark
14:34 – 14:44
needed. You know what? In all honesty, I couldn’t think of too many worse things to do than sit with my kids for eight hours a day and try and teach them.

Anders
14:45 – 14:46
I wouldn’t have the patience.

Mark
14:47 – 14:50
No, no way. Leave it to the people who get paid to do

Anders
14:50 – 14:51
that. Exactly.

Mark
14:52 – 14:56
You know, but I also wouldn’t be a teacher for all the money in the world these days, like

Anders
14:56 – 14:57
I see

Mark
14:57 – 15:04
things that go on and there’s little or no respect anymore for teachers in, well in our society.

Anders
15:04 – 15:07
Western society in general. Western society

Mark
15:08 – 15:15
in general these days, because kids know their rights and they know that teachers, you know, can’t punish them basically. And, you know,

Anders
15:15 – 15:15
police can’t punish

Mark
15:16 – 15:16
them

Anders
15:16 – 15:17
if they’re under 18. And, you know, so

Mark
15:17 – 15:20
there’s absolutely no retribution at all for

Anders
15:21 – 16:20
No, it’s sad. I mean, education and knowledge is more important now than ever. And yeah, the teachers really should have, they should be paid like CEOs. Definitely. But you’re right, in terms of taking your kid out of school and travel, see things, other cultures, other countries, is most likely more beneficial than having that one-way teaching from the board down to the classroom where there’s little to no interaction. And it’s, yeah, I believe in that. I believe in traveling. I mean, they all need that, but you can certainly

Mark
16:20 – 16:31
have a mixture of it where you where you should be able to take your kids out to do something like that, especially if you’re going to, you know, I don’t I don’t believe in kids sitting around home doing nothing because they want a day off or

Speaker 2
16:31 – 16:32
something like

Mark
16:32 – 16:39
that. But, you know, if you’re going to go and do something worthwhile, that’s going to, you know, make them better world citizens and,

Anders
16:39 – 16:41
you know, more understanding and a bit

Mark
16:41 – 16:51
more tolerant of, you know, what’s going on with other cultures and other religions. And it can only really be a It can only be a good thing, I guess, in the end, but yeah, so that’s

Anders
16:51 – 16:52
my little

Mark
16:52 – 17:03
bit. If you live, anyone out there listening, lives in any other countries, drop us a line and tell us what the situation’s like in your country in regards to taking kids out of school.

Anders
17:04 – 17:04
Now,

Mark
17:04 – 17:11
another point, I know last week we were touching on, actually, no, not that point. What I was going to

Anders
17:11 – 17:11
say

Mark
17:11 – 17:29
was, it’s Black Friday sales time. Yeah. Have you ever buy ever buy travel on black friday sales? Like i’ve never booked a trip or a ticket or anything like that on a black friday sale not for Not for any known reason. I just have

Anders
17:29 – 17:29
never

Mark
17:29 – 17:31
sort of waited around for it to

Anders
17:31 – 17:31
come up. I

Mark
17:31 – 17:32
generally just

Anders
17:32 – 17:32
uh

Mark
17:33 – 17:36
Just book them when they come up, but I do see a lot of good travel sales going around.

Anders
17:36 – 17:36
Oh,

Mark
17:36 – 17:38
yeah But

Anders
17:38 – 17:38
I’m

Mark
17:38 – 17:45
more more More generally sorry buying things like, uh, you know suitcases and travel accessories and

Anders
17:45 – 17:46
yeah, come on Yeah

Mark
17:46 – 17:47
in general I am I

Anders
17:52 – 18:53
I don’t know, there’s a lot of, in my other work, in my daily work, we are having, because that’s consumer goods that I work with, and that’s Friday, Black Friday is a big thing. But we are always, because I represent a rather sustainable company with ecological and Ecology is a big thing and sustainability is a big thing, so we’re kind of a little bit edgy on the Black Friday thing, because it comes across not always being sustainable, because people buy stuff they really do not need. But in terms of services and travels, I actually think it would be a good idea, because if you are already on the look for something, And you all already scanning the market for airline tickets or hotel accommodation or whatever.

Anders
18:53 – 18:58
And if, if a good offer comes up, why not? By all means. It’s

Mark
18:58 – 18:58
more

Anders
18:58 – 18:59
like black Friday

Mark
18:59 – 19:00
month these days. Like it

Anders
19:00 – 19:03
used to be what the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then it was like

Mark
19:03 – 19:07
cyber Monday or something. And now the sales start like two weeks out

Anders
19:07 – 19:08
before

Mark
19:08 – 19:09
Friday. Now

Anders
19:10 – 19:48
there’s always stuff on sale. You should always look at the before price because that’s where they typically will scam you is that they will just raise the before price and then you really just pay the same. Yeah, but if you are, like I know you are Mark, you’re scanning the markets constantly for airline tickets and you really, you know what an airline, what an airfare to let’s say China, what it should cost. Come on. So you really would know, uh, when a black Friday offer comes up, if it’s a good offer or

Mark
19:48 – 20:29
not. I would hope so. Anyway, speaking of China, my daughter went to a Christmas market in China on the weekend. So it looks much like something you’d find in Europe. There was like wooden, you know, wooden stalls and things like this. No, no snow. Actually the day after we arrive I’m gonna go and have a look at this because absolutely as I’ve said before I’ve been to a few Big Christmas markets in Europe and a few small Christmas markets in Europe So I’m actually really keen to to go and have a look at this Christmas market in China and and see what it’s like it looked similar look like they were selling, you know little handicrafts and And little gingerbreads and, you know, and all this sort of stuff like that.

Anders
20:29 – 20:30
So, yeah, so it

Mark
20:30 – 20:33
actually looks quite similar to, um, except for the fake grass that it

Anders
20:33 – 20:34
was on. It was on like

Mark
20:35 – 20:38
a fake, fake grass was very green.

Anders
20:39 – 21:05
But you know, you know, um, we can, we can chat about the Christmas markets a little bit because, um. Yeah, this is something I had planned as well, one of my topics, because they are opening this week. This coming Friday is the big opening of most European Christmas markets. And I would like to ask you, you’ve been to quite a few.

Mark
21:06 – 21:07
What’s

Anders
21:07 – 21:13
your favorite? What’s your favorite city or your favorite Christmas market? I’ve been to

Mark
21:13 – 21:16
Strasbourg. Strasbourg in France was really nice.

Anders
21:16 – 21:18
Yeah, I saw the photo

Mark
21:19 – 21:19
Prague was really

Anders
21:19 – 21:20
nice as well.

Mark
21:21 – 21:26
Munich was really nice. I’ve been to Berlin Probably some of my favorite markets are in

Anders
21:26 – 21:27
the Alsace

Mark
21:27 – 21:27
in France.

Anders
21:27 – 21:28
Yeah, Strasbourg

Mark
21:28 – 21:40
better like Colmar even Freiberg in Germany was really nice as well. So not as big and as well-known as some of the others But actually this is one just

Anders
21:40 – 21:41
out of

Mark
21:41 – 21:42
Freiberg in Germany and I’m

Anders
21:42 – 21:43
gonna pronounce this really

Mark
21:44 – 21:44
wrong and it’ll be

Anders
21:44 – 21:45
no someone look

Mark
21:45 – 21:49
it up I have no idea. It’s called Raven schlute and it was

Anders
21:49 – 21:50
out in the

Mark
21:50 – 22:06
black edge of the edge of the Black Forest and it was set underneath a, I would say a hundred foot high old brick train bridge, trestle bridge. And this market was, yeah, it was this in this bit of clearing in the forest. And apparently

Speaker 2
22:06 – 22:06
it’s

Mark
22:06 – 22:13
still there and it goes on every, you actually got to buy tickets in advance to go to it because it gets so, so packed.

Anders
22:13 – 22:13
And

Mark
22:14 – 22:18
actually it was one of the coldest places I’ve ever been the night we went there. I was so cold

Anders
22:18 – 22:18
when we were there,

Mark
22:19 – 22:29
but that’s beside the point. But Colmar, Colmar’s a really outstanding market. And it’s, it’s one of the more really popular ones, but I’ll tell you what, one of the places that I really enjoyed most going to a market

Anders
22:29 – 22:29
was

Mark
22:30 – 22:32
Pilsen in the Czech Republic. Uh, we

Anders
22:32 – 22:34
stopped there for a night just on the way

Mark
22:34 – 22:37
from, I think we were going to,

Anders
22:37 – 22:38
we were going

Mark
22:38 – 22:39
to Berlin, I think. So we

Anders
22:39 – 22:39
went

Mark
22:39 – 22:55
from Munich and we went from Munich to Pilsen to Berlin. So we cut into the Czech Republic way. It was just as fast. And we rolled into the city. I wasn’t looking for it because we’re actually going to the Pilsner Yerquell or Yerquell

Anders
22:55 – 22:55
or however they

Mark
22:55 – 22:56
pronounce the

Anders
22:56 – 22:58
brewery. Yeah, we’re

Mark
22:58 – 23:26
going to the brewery there, to this famous brewery. I went there, but then we walked into the old town and there was this fantastic market in the old town. It wasn’t overly packed because it was, you know, Pilsen’s not, I wouldn’t say it’s not big on the tourist trail. For a lot of people, it was really traditional, it was nice, there was good music, good food, the prices were reasonable. So yes, I was really off the tourist trail a bit and I was probably one of the markets that really, really sticks in my mind a lot.

Anders
23:26 – 23:28
But as for just in

Mark
23:28 – 23:31
general in Christmas, Warsaw, Poland was one of the best cities.

Speaker 2
23:32 – 23:32
I’ve

Mark
23:32 – 23:36
ever been to they had Christmas lights that were amazing I’ve never seen anything

Anders
23:36 – 23:37
like it and I stretched

Mark
23:37 – 23:38
all the way

Anders
23:38 – 23:38
through this

Mark
23:38 – 23:57
main street in the city for about three kilometers That was yeah, absolutely outstanding. So So yeah, so I’ve been to like I said a few of the few of the really big markets and they’re all they’re all well worth Going to but the year we went to a lot of these we went to about ten I reckon in one year by the end of it. I was like, okay The way it

Anders
23:57 – 25:06
goes, yeah Yeah, you know what, as you were talking about this, the Comar and the Strasbourg markets, they sort of look like Europe used to look like 500 years ago, right? It’s, it’s, and this is the really the, I think we mentioned this before in the podcast is central European history. This is, This is a little piece of Central European history, the Christmas markets. This weekend some of the Christmas markets in Copenhagen opened and it didn’t come across very well because there is not a long tradition for Christmas markets in Denmark, oddly enough. Yeah, they’ve sort of like exported this German Christmas market concept and just placed it in Copenhagen, even with international vendors and they hardly speak any Danish and they sell sauerkraut, they sell bratwurst.

Anders
25:07 – 25:56
without translating that into some local Danish folklore. So it does not, I mean, as a Dane, as a Dane going to a Christmas market, you can enjoy it for what it is, but it has nothing to do with Danish culture. And that was the criticism. Because I mean, if the if they were going to have like traditional Danish Christmas markets, it would be like crafts and of course a bit of food obviously and drink. but it wouldn’t be Glühwein, it would be Gluck, which is a different type of mulled wine. Yeah, it’s, I don’t know, it’s coming because there’s a commercial interest, obviously.

Mark
25:56 – 26:29
Definitely. In the last 10 years, the popularity of people wanting to visit European Christmas markets Yeah. Has exploded. So like all good things, we try and export any, any good concept to all four corners of the world. Cause someone thinks they can, they can make a dollar’s Christmas markets in Melbourne. Like, and it doesn’t really relate to Australia because it’s, it’s summer. Like when there’s, when these markets are on, you know, so you sort of go. And if you’ve ever been to Europe, winter is part of Christmas. Yeah, it is, yeah. But it gets cold, you get in the mood.

Mark
26:29 – 26:32
So it’s a little bit hard to feel the same

Anders
26:33 – 26:33
way about

Mark
26:33 – 26:42
it when it’s 35 degrees and you’re walking around sweating. Did you have mulled wine then? No, I had cold wine. They

Anders
26:42 – 26:43
did have

Mark
26:43 – 26:45
mulled wine, but they had cold mulled wine.

Anders
26:46 – 26:59
That could be nice too. I mean, it’s just really about the… Spices that they could put into it. You know, that’s a bit of cinnamon. I’m not a big

Mark
26:59 – 27:03
fan of the hot wine

Anders
27:03 – 27:04
Yeah,

Mark
27:04 – 27:05
yeah

Speaker 2
27:05 – 27:05
and I

Mark
27:05 – 27:14
can’t come to it I’m like, you know, I’m very much a cold drink person, being Australian. I probably never drank, I probably never even drank hot drinks. I

Anders
27:14 – 27:16
probably only, the last 10 years of my coffee

Mark
27:16 – 27:16
person

Anders
27:16 – 27:17
before that, I would never

Mark
27:17 – 27:20
drink anything hot at all. So, um,

Anders
27:20 – 27:21
and I still

Mark
27:21 – 27:22
actually enjoy my coffee probably more

Anders
27:22 – 27:23
once I’ve left

Mark
27:23 – 27:25
it sitting on the bench for half an hour and it’s gone, you know,

Anders
27:25 – 27:26
nearly

Mark
27:26 – 27:26
cold to be,

Anders
27:26 – 27:27
uh,

Mark
27:27 – 27:33
to be in all honesty with you. So, so yeah, I find the Glühwein one cup, like you said, is enough. I always

Anders
27:33 – 27:33
have one

Mark
27:33 – 27:36
wherever we go because each market is different because

Anders
27:36 – 27:36
it

Mark
27:37 – 27:41
comes from a different, a different region. So it’s true. It’s part of the, it’s part of the tradition to go and

Anders
27:42 – 27:42
go

Mark
27:42 – 27:45
and try one, but one is probably enough for

Anders
27:45 – 28:11
me. One is one is one is enough. Yeah, because it really gets it’s very sweet. It’s not even because I mean, yeah, sure, you can have that what the what the locals here do is that they you can add a shot of rum or whiskey or whatever you would like. Bailey Irish cream, something like that to it. But if you don’t do that, it’s really not strong. It’s just, you know, yeah.

Mark
28:11 – 28:16
It’s, and that’s, yeah, if you want a good wine, just go and drink a wine, you

Anders
28:16 – 28:16
know,

Mark
28:16 – 28:18
don’t ruin it by, uh, by tricking

Anders
28:19 – 28:19
it

Mark
28:19 – 28:21
up with, uh, to make it really sweet, I guess. Cause there’s

Anders
28:22 – 28:23
plenty of good wine

Mark
28:23 – 28:29
in France and Germany and places like that where they serve the Glühwein. So, you know, just drink the wine I say.

Anders
28:30 – 29:01
Yeah, yeah, really. I agree. Yeah, no. So so yeah, Christmas, Christmas markets are up. I’ll try to get into one probably this Friday already. And there’s a small as a little local one opening just around the corner from us and we’ll try to go there again. I can send some photos so that listeners can see what the mood is like. I

Mark
29:01 – 29:05
still have that. I’m sorry, do I still have that medieval Christmas market?

Anders
29:05 – 29:51
Yes, they do. They have a medieval Yeah, and that’s actually something that that’s really nice. Because that’s it is unique. And you can get you can get in there and and and have they call it medieval glue vine. Obviously, it’s I don’t know if the recipe is originally from from medieval times, but But yeah, you can also get some food that you don’t get elsewhere, that has a more medieval feel to it. But yeah, it’s all about the atmosphere. And obviously, all the crafts that you can buy, you can buy clothes, you can buy… Typically, what you can buy is, as my wife always says, you know, the stuff the world really don’t need.

Anders
29:51 – 29:54
There’s plenty of

Mark
29:54 – 29:55
that around, isn’t there?

Anders
29:58 – 30:06
But, you know, like socks and house shoes and, you know, a warm sweater and some…

Mark
30:06 – 30:10
That’s another typically European thing is house shoes. Like,

Anders
30:10 – 30:10
no one has

Mark
30:10 – 30:12
house shoes. No, you have

Anders
30:12 – 30:13
your Crocs.

Mark
30:14 – 30:16
Yeah, you have Crocs. I’ve got a pair of Crocs on now, to

Speaker 2
30:16 – 30:16
be honest

Mark
30:16 – 30:23
with you. But, I don’t know. Like, I don’t wear shoes inside. Like, you know, I flip my Crocs off or my thongs

Speaker 2
30:23 – 30:23
or

Mark
30:23 – 30:30
flip flops. I don’t know what you want to call them over there. If Americans are listening, it’s not a thong that you wear. It’s not a pair of undies thong.

Anders
30:30 – 30:31
No, no, no. It’s, it’s on your feet.

Mark
30:31 – 30:33
That’s a pair, that’s a pair of shoes. Yeah.

Anders
30:33 – 30:34
And

Mark
30:34 – 30:41
you know, typically in Australia, you get to the back door and you, uh, just take your shoes off and go inside. Maybe in winter you might have your socks

Anders
30:41 – 30:41
on or,

Mark
30:42 – 30:42
but

Anders
30:42 – 30:43
yeah, um,

Mark
30:44 – 30:44
yeah, it’s

Anders
30:45 – 30:45
another one of those

Mark
30:45 – 31:00
things. One name cultural differences between yeah between Europe and Australia that we seem to dig into one each week or so at this, right? Yes, I have shoes Not a thing, but you know, I’ve been to places in Europe where they hang, you know Like a little thing on the back of the door that’s full of

Anders
31:00 – 31:02
shoes. Yes Yeah, any of

Speaker 2
31:02 – 31:03
the shoes of a big hanging

Mark
31:03 – 31:17
over there and a little felt thing that you put your shoes in.

Anders
31:17 – 32:03
And yes, it’s absolutely true. Because and I’ll tell you why that is. That’s because in many old buildings in Europe, you I mean, you obviously you have heating. That’s that’s for sure. But but the floors will get cold during the winter. So so Yeah, we all wear house shoes, simply not to, because if your feet get cold, that’s when your whole body starts to get cold. But if you live in a modern building, a newly built, I would say within the last 25 years, Yeah. Underfloor heating has become a thing. So you don’t even have the radiators anymore.

Anders
32:05 – 32:33
You just have underfloor heating and that will distribute the heating in the whole home differently. And there will be no like cold corners and rooms because all the floors are not hot, but comfortably warm and your feet will stay warm, meaning that your whole body will stay, you know. Do

Mark
32:34 – 32:38
you have house shoes for the summer or are they just the same shoes?

Anders
32:39 – 33:42
No, in the summer, I don’t, I don’t really wear house shoes. That’s, that’s just like you like in like thongs or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. So I am a kind of a bare feet person as well. I really enjoy that when I can. For years, I haven’t really In the winter I wear socks but in the summer I don’t and this is probably come across as a bit gross to some people but I just slip into like my shoes without socks and then of course they start to stink at some point but I make sure I can put I can put them in the in the washing machine it’s washing machine and washing yeah yeah and and and use some disinfectant rinse rinsing whatever so that you know and I do that on a regular basis so so yeah it’s it’s just to I yeah as as much as possible bare feet absolutely I agree

Mark
33:46 – 33:53
Actually I like walking around on the grass barefeeted. It’s a nice connection to the earth.

Anders
33:54 – 34:55
That’s what they say, you know. It has a healing aspect. If you can find somewhere with no poisonous insects and stuff living in the grass, going bare feet in the grass is actually a really good thing. You know, if you’ve never done it, it’s, I remember when Anton was a little, he was a toddler, the first time his bare feet touched grass was really funny because we were holding him out like, you know, both arms and we put him down. sit him down on the grass and he didn’t like that he was like he was all tickly under his feet and he’s there but uh yeah it has a healing effect and it’s it’s really soothing yeah yeah yeah so um How’s that?

Anders
34:55 – 35:07
How’s that? Um planning of the of the china trip coming along mark. Are you um, have you I mean, I know it’s it’s not It’s only three weeks from today three weeks from today. Yeah. Yeah

Mark
35:08 – 35:09
three weeks from today. So

Anders
35:10 – 35:15
So how how long before do you start? Packing things well mentally maybe before but but I mean

Mark
35:16 – 35:26
That’s a good question. Uh, I actually considered going down the shed today and taking my uh, My suitcase up into the house or in my office where

Anders
35:26 – 35:26
we

Mark
35:27 – 35:45
record this I generally keep the suitcases because I don’t have a great deal of room in the house to keep them so I had considered doing that today because Funnily enough. I went and bought a couple of new pairs of shorts and a couple of new t-shirts. Yeah So I was like I should just get my suitcase and just put them straight

Anders
35:45 – 35:45
in

Mark
35:45 – 35:48
there because I Will need them

Anders
35:48 – 35:49
and there’s yes

Mark
35:50 – 35:53
He’s putting him into the rotation in my drawer at this stage. Yeah.

Anders
35:54 – 35:54
Yeah,

Mark
35:54 – 36:05
because I wanna I want to take him to with me so I generally go on by when we’re going to Asia because it’s Really sweaty and Bangkok will be

Anders
36:05 – 36:05
I

Mark
36:05 – 36:08
generally go and buy a couple of cheap black t-shirts before I before I

Anders
36:08 – 36:09
go

Mark
36:09 – 36:15
anywhere. Yeah Fallen into the habit of taking light t-shirts before and it looks like you’ve taken a bath or a swim.

Anders
36:15 – 36:15
Yeah.

Mark
36:15 – 36:21
Yeah So so I try and take a steady stream of black t-shirts whenever I am

Anders
36:22 – 36:37
Which is also if you go to a very hot country and sunny country, I mean wearing black Is is also a it will attract Yeah, but but I understand what you’re saying, yeah, so i’ve actually got

Mark
36:37 – 36:43
a Look, I normally okay. I have a packing system for asia. Okay, so Whenever

Anders
36:43 – 36:44
we go anywhere in asia, I

Mark
36:44 – 36:45
take I have a 555 system.

Anders
36:46 – 36:46
I take

Mark
36:47 – 36:52
Five t-shirts, five pairs of shorts, five pairs of socks, and five

Anders
36:52 – 36:52
pairs

Mark
36:52 – 37:14
of boxer shorts. And that’s my, uh, that’s my standard pack because I know that nearly anywhere I go in Asia, I’m not going to need a jumper and I’m not going to need a pair of pants. So what I do is I wear a jumper and a pair of pants on the plane on the way over. So then I’ve got a pair. That’s generally all I take. So I can generally get enough washing done all the time to, to make everything clean,

Anders
37:15 – 37:15
clean and

Mark
37:15 – 37:22
fresh. Yeah. So yeah, so that’s my standard pack, but this time it’ll be a bit different. Cause like we said, we’re going to go to China and it’s going to be

Anders
37:22 – 37:22
two

Mark
37:22 – 37:24
degrees and I’m going to Bangkok

Anders
37:24 – 37:24
a

Mark
37:24 – 37:31
few days later, it’s going to be 35 degrees. So I’m going to have to take a few extra pairs of pants and a. I’m definitely going to have to take a coat

Anders
37:33 – 37:33
and

Mark
37:33 – 37:36
some gloves and a beanie probably

Anders
37:36 – 37:37
as

Mark
37:37 – 37:37
well.

Anders
37:37 – 37:37
You have

Mark
37:38 – 37:38
your Munich

Anders
37:38 – 37:39
beanie still, don’t you?

Mark
37:40 – 37:40
I do have

Anders
37:40 – 37:41
it,

Mark
37:41 – 37:41
yes, it’s

Anders
37:41 – 37:42
in my

Mark
37:42 – 37:50
drawer. But I lost one of the tassels off the side the other day, so I’ve only got one that dangles down that side now. But

Anders
37:50 – 37:54
I do still have that most definitely. And Willow had one too, and I actually took it over to

Mark
37:54 – 38:09
her when we visited China in September. So where so I’m not quite sure I might have to invade some of my wife’s Suitcase space because I traveled this with a carry-on suitcase with the small I try and do

Anders
38:09 – 38:10
that that

Mark
38:10 – 38:15
even though I check it. I just don’t like taking big bags because I think You arrive

Speaker 2
38:15 – 38:15
at an

Mark
38:15 – 38:17
issue when there’s three or four of you is traveling

Speaker 2
38:18 – 38:19
and everyone’s

Mark
38:19 – 38:23
got a big suitcase. And that issue is that you cannot fit them in the back of a taxi

Speaker 2
38:23 – 38:23
or an

Mark
38:23 – 38:29
Uber or a diddy or a grab so that you end up having to get two. So it costs you twice the price because

Anders
38:29 – 38:30
no one

Mark
38:30 – 38:33
can fit four big suitcases in the back of their boot basically. It’s

Anders
38:33 – 38:33
true.

Mark
38:34 – 38:34
Yeah,

Anders
38:35 – 38:35
so I

Mark
38:35 – 38:50
try and we try and take one big suitcase which Rebecca takes and that’s more not for clothes But when we go to Asia, it’s more for souvenirs and clothes that she can buy there because it’s yeah Cheap so and I take a small carry-on

Anders
38:51 – 38:51
Marley

Mark
38:51 – 39:04
takes a small carry-on and willow generally takes a small carry-on plus we take a backpack. So yeah Carry-ons, but that’s just more for convenience because sometimes I think that the more room you’ve got the more stuff you’re Likely,

Anders
39:04 – 39:04
that’s sure the

Mark
39:05 – 39:14
whether you need or not because I’ve taken big suitcases before and what happens is if you take a lot of clothes Whatever you whatever you’ve been wearing It’s dirty and you put it in a pile

Anders
39:14 – 39:15
and then you get it washed and

Mark
39:15 – 39:18
that stuff comes back and goes straight back on the top

Anders
39:18 – 39:18
of

Mark
39:18 – 39:18
your suitcase

Anders
39:18 – 39:19
and then you

Mark
39:19 – 39:19
wear that again.

Speaker 2
39:20 – 39:20
Oh, yeah

Mark
39:22 – 39:25
Any generally wearing 50% of the stuff you got the and that’s the stuff that’s getting

Anders
39:25 – 39:25
through

Mark
39:25 – 39:26
Freshly washed and put back

Anders
39:26 – 39:27
on the top of your

Mark
39:27 – 39:28
suitcase all the time. So

Anders
39:28 – 39:31
true So it’s a bizarre bizarre

Mark
39:31 – 39:32
tactic, but so yes,

Anders
39:32 – 39:34
my five five five five

Mark
39:34 – 39:35
packing system.

Anders
39:36 – 39:47
I Use the exact same system. I it’s just a seven seven because I I Don’t want to wash more than once a week. So it’s just That’s

Mark
39:48 – 39:48
true.

Anders
39:48 – 39:49
Yeah, you

Mark
39:49 – 39:53
know In Asia, sometimes I have to wear two T-shirts a day because if you’re

Anders
39:53 – 39:54
out and about,

Mark
39:54 – 40:09
by the time you come home and after a full day, you know, my T-shirt will be fairly wet and sweaty. Yeah, true. I sometimes have to wear two if I’m going back out at night. I’ll have to put on a fresh T-shirt, but if not, I’ll just take it off and hang out in the

Anders
40:09 – 40:11
apartment, you know,

Mark
40:11 – 40:12
without my T-shirt on. But

Anders
40:12 – 40:13
yeah, generally I

Mark
40:14 – 40:18
find that, yeah, that’s pretty easy to get washing. Done

Anders
40:18 – 40:19
over there

Mark
40:19 – 40:22
and plus I’m getting an extra pair really because I’m wearing a set of

Anders
40:22 – 40:23
clothes as well. Yeah, really? I’ve

Mark
40:23 – 40:28
got six t-shirts and you know six Socks and six jocks going on.

Anders
40:28 – 40:28
Really?

Mark
40:28 – 40:30
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Anders
40:30 – 40:30
Yes.

Mark
40:31 – 40:36
That’s the realistic part of it for me. I mean, you can always buy clothes anyway, especially if you can’t age, you can pick up a t-shirt for $2 or $3.

Anders
40:36 – 40:37
Yeah.

Mark
40:37 – 40:39
Something like that. True. But

Anders
40:40 – 40:46
you probably will do anyway. I mean you probably want to have like a souvenir t-shirt or or something like that.

Mark
40:47 – 40:56
Really buy anything when I travel anymore. It’s quite quite surprising. My wife buys a lot of stuff, but I used to be a big big souvenir buyer of like fridge magnets and

Anders
40:56 – 40:57
all

Mark
40:57 – 41:01
sorts of knickknacks and you can go into the box in the side of

Anders
41:01 – 41:02
my shed over there and you’ll find a box

Mark
41:02 – 41:12
full of it like, you know, so I reckon probably for the last five years occasionally, I might buy a Ridge magnet if something takes my fancy and somewhere we go, but

Speaker 2
41:12 – 41:12
other than

Mark
41:12 – 41:24
that, I generally Don’t buy anything else anymore. Don’t buy a t-shirt to say off Memories memories the best made in your head and with your eyes,

Anders
41:24 – 41:44
that’s true. That is true. It’s do well, do you do you because I wanted to about the about the packing and and and Making mental notes before packing and so I guess you would also need like a Almost a separate bag for all your technique stuff technical stuff I mean,

Mark
41:44 – 41:46
well I do so I carry

Anders
41:46 – 41:47
a lot of that in my

Mark
41:47 – 41:48
backpack, which is

Anders
41:48 – 41:49
why I take

Mark
41:49 – 41:59
a backpack as well. So Generally, I’ll be taking you know, a drone sometimes I take two drones and You know, I’ve also

Anders
41:59 – 42:00
got a GoPro

Mark
42:00 – 42:09
that I take in case we go in the water. Then I’ve got a DJI Osmo gimbal I take as well. So yeah, so I take a fair bit of bit of equipment

Anders
42:09 – 42:09
when

Mark
42:09 – 42:14
we go. And luckily I offload some of that into my wife’s large suitcase. Oh,

Anders
42:14 – 42:26
that’s because it’s not just, it’s not just the devices themselves because they come with cables and chargers and, and so that, yeah, that, that, that whole thing.

Mark
42:26 – 42:31
Laptop cables are heavy. Like, you know, when you put that in your bag, so my backpack, That’ll

Anders
42:31 – 42:32
be

Mark
42:32 – 42:41
all that’s in there. So if I take me back back a little bit my laptop will be in there and I’m a laptop charger and then there’ll be a case for For the GoPro

Anders
42:41 – 42:42
and then

Mark
42:42 – 42:42
there’ll

Anders
42:42 – 42:42
be a

Mark
42:42 – 42:45
case for the DJI gimbal and then there’ll

Anders
42:45 – 42:45
be a

Mark
42:45 – 42:46
small case

Anders
42:46 – 42:46
for the

Mark
42:46 – 42:51
drone and that’ll be basically Seven kilos without putting anything else.

Anders
42:51 – 42:57
That’s what I’m carrying. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s not just the devices themselves It’s really everything that comes with them

Mark
42:58 – 42:58
Yeah

Anders
42:59 – 42:59
Try

Mark
42:59 – 43:14
to scale down a bit, but it’s really hard to Hard to scale down a lot like I bought a really small drone to take which was Which was a lot better. It doesn’t go as high as the DJI

Speaker 2
43:14 – 43:15
one, but it

Mark
43:15 – 43:28
does some nice little shots and, you know, was it far enough to make some decent video for our YouTube channel, because I found us taking a drone and the options to put them up are getting slimmer and slimmer in

Anders
43:28 – 43:29
a lot of places, like, you know,

Mark
43:29 – 43:37
it’s tighter and tighter and hard to get places to put them up. Honestly, the country I thought, which would really be hard, China,

Anders
43:37 – 43:38
is not hard at

Mark
43:38 – 43:40
all for people to put them up anyway, so, which

Anders
43:40 – 43:40
is quite

Mark
43:41 – 43:41
bizarre

Anders
43:41 – 43:49
too. Which is quite odd, yeah, because, I mean, here in Germany, you’re not allowed to fly drones anywhere. I mean, you really, you need a license to do that.

Mark
43:51 – 44:00
Very strange, but so yeah, so my backpack is definitely Taken up with Cables as well, you know, I’ll take a pencil case full of USB

Anders
44:00 – 44:01
cables

Mark
44:01 – 44:08
and then you need charging ports and you know and adapters and all sorts of stuff To charge, you know, everyone’s devices. So

Anders
44:08 – 44:10
everyone’s got a phone charging overnight and got

Mark
44:10 – 44:12
two cameras charging overnight and Then

Anders
44:12 – 44:13
I need a

Mark
44:13 – 44:18
hard drive to download it all off just in case something happens to any of the cameras. Absolutely, yeah.

Anders
44:19 – 44:37
Extra memory cards, maybe. And also, I don’t know if this is a thing, but like a plug-in adapter, because no power sockets are the same, so you probably need an adapter for that also.

Mark
44:37 – 44:38
Universal adapter.

Anders
44:38 – 44:47
You probably also need like a power socket, kind of a five or ten socket.

Mark
44:47 – 44:48
Yeah, like

Anders
44:48 – 44:58
a power board or a power strip. Yeah, exactly. Because what I usually find is that in hotel rooms, sometimes you have one power point somewhere

Mark
44:58 – 44:59
in the corner and it’s just…

Anders
44:59 – 45:00
They do it on

Mark
45:00 – 45:02
purpose, don’t they? Just to give you the shits.

Anders
45:02 – 45:02
That’s all

Mark
45:02 – 45:14
they do. So I get that too. But yeah, and like, you know, I’ve got a pack for the kids too. Like, you know, cause they’re like, I need a charger and I need a cable and I need a cord and I need this

Anders
45:14 – 45:14
and I

Mark
45:14 – 45:16
need that. And, you know, and

Anders
45:17 – 45:17
hell

Mark
45:17 – 45:20
have no fury like children when their phones go flat and they’ve got no internet

Anders
45:20 – 45:21
access.

Mark
45:21 – 45:24
They’ve got nothing better to do, but annoy you when that happens.

Anders
45:24 – 45:24
So,

Mark
45:24 – 45:35
uh, you know, so I’ve got to, got to keep their stuff charged up too, but I generally have, um, like some little Ziploc bags and I have three of them. Set up all the time that go into the cupboard

Anders
45:35 – 45:36
and they’ve each

Mark
45:36 – 45:36
got

Anders
45:36 – 45:36
a

Mark
45:36 – 45:43
cable and a universal charger and yes Yeah, yeah,

Anders
45:46 – 46:06
that’s We kind of had the same system apart from from from which Anton is now in charge of packing his own you know technical stuff and and and But doesn’t keep him from asking, you know, where’s my this and where’s my that as well? I don’t know. You packed it yourself. I hope you packed it yourself. That’s it.

Mark
46:07 – 46:08
It’s only one person’s fault.

Anders
46:09 – 46:33
Yeah, but but just like you, I it can get annoying if he’s he doesn’t have his phone and his entertainment. So I always make sure that I have an extra charger just in case he yeah yeah because you know um either he has he doesn’t um know where to find it uh right away or uh something happens and

Mark
46:33 – 46:33
they

Anders
46:33 – 46:34
break to

Mark
46:34 – 46:36
take too much than um too little these days

Anders
46:37 – 46:37
but it

Mark
46:37 – 46:47
seems like most things are going towards usb c charging anyway yeah away from the actual PowerPoint, you know besides the actual, you know Charging you need to put in the

Anders
46:47 – 46:48
wall

Mark
46:48 – 46:49
most things these days seem to be

Anders
46:49 – 46:50
yes and

Mark
46:50 – 46:52
to be charged by USB C I could

Anders
46:52 – 46:52
charge my

Mark
46:52 – 46:54
laptop with USB C.

Anders
46:54 – 46:55
Yeah everything

Mark
46:55 – 47:05
these days can be Can be charged with a USB C or a USB, you know, the old-style mini USB cable, which yeah But

Anders
47:11 – 48:03
Yeah, it’s becoming the standard, particularly in Europe, within the European Union. Even Apple has to oblige to comply with the rules because Apple has had their own ecosystem of chargers, but now they’ve been forced to use the USBC standard. I think it’s good. I think there’s way too much electronic junk being made with all kinds of various ecosystems and it’s really not necessary. Are you having a technical issue? Mark is, I can see on my screen here, he’s, are you, can you hear me? I was

Mark
48:03 – 48:04
running out of charge, so I had

Anders
48:04 – 48:04
to

Mark
48:04 – 48:15
charge one side of your headphones at the same time as. As I’ve got them plugged in, it came up. Oh, okay. Battery running low. So I was like, okay, I need to, so

Anders
48:15 – 48:15
I look like a bit

Mark
48:15 – 48:28
of a Martian. I’ve got a cord going out of each side. It looks like I’m plugged into my headphones at the moment, but it’s because I just leave, I don’t use headphones very often. Except when I’m

Anders
48:28 – 48:29
down here the last few.

Mark
48:29 – 48:37
Yeah. So I sort of take them off when we finish on a Monday night and I sit him on the bench and then I come down every Monday night and I go, Oh, I haven’t charged him. Yeah, well,

Anders
48:38 – 48:54
yeah, well. So I look forward to hearing about the packing process over the next couple of weeks, where you’re at next week at this time.

Mark
48:56 – 49:07
One of the things I probably will do, and what we did when we went Traveled long-term even though we were going to Asia for eight months. We knew we would need coats like when we When we got to Europe,

Anders
49:07 – 49:07
so we

Mark
49:07 – 49:13
basically got some cable ties and rolled our coats up into like a You know like a sausage shape

Anders
49:13 – 49:14
and strap

Mark
49:14 – 49:20
them as tight as we could and then just put another cord through it So we could hang them over the top of our suitcase handle and

Anders
49:20 – 49:20
then we

Mark
49:20 – 49:26
could just take them as carry-on so because the coat takes up a Hell of a lot of room in your suitcase. It

Anders
49:26 – 49:27
does

Mark
49:27 – 49:29
you know the puffer jacket sort of stuff that

Anders
49:29 – 49:29
yeah

Mark
49:30 – 49:31
or wear these

Anders
49:31 – 49:31
days So

Mark
49:32 – 49:34
that’ll be one thing. I will definitely be doing is

Anders
49:34 – 49:35
rolling

Mark
49:35 – 49:35
my coat up and

Anders
49:36 – 49:55
I’ve seen these bags, you can buy them online, you can put your stuff that takes up a lot of room, but has very little actual physical substance. You can put it to a bag and then hoover it with your vacuum cleaner. Ah,

Mark
49:55 – 49:57
yes, yes, yes, the suction bags. I’ve

Anders
49:57 – 50:01
got a couple of them here somewhere. That’s actually a good idea.

Mark
50:02 – 50:06
Yeah, this one says roll didn’t even need the hoover you just sort of rolled it rolled it and rolled it until the

Anders
50:06 – 50:06
air

Mark
50:06 – 50:07
came out and then I

Anders
50:07 – 50:08
don’t know why I’m doing

Mark
50:08 – 50:15
hand actions here to show people you can’t see the hand actions that I’m actually uh that I’m actually doing maybe it’ll pop up in one of the videos I put on the youtube

Anders
50:15 – 50:16
channel

Mark
50:16 – 50:20
but uh Yeah, I’ve got hand actions going on to you know to show Anders.

Anders
50:20 – 50:23
Yeah, I I I know I know what you’re getting at

Speaker 2
50:24 – 50:24
Yeah,

Anders
50:25 – 50:51
um, yeah, but but uh you know, packing tips and tricks. I mean, my wife has, has taught me a lot about that because, you know, in our early travel days, I would also be like, you know, I can’t fit any more into the suitcase. It’s full. No, it’s not full. What’s in your shoes, in my shoes, roll your socks and stuff them in your shoes and stuff like that, you know, so you can have,

Mark
50:51 – 50:54
Do you roll? Do you roll your clothes? Or do you

Anders
50:54 – 51:41
just fold them flat? Yeah, now I do. Now I roll them tightly and then I fit them into these packing cells. These packing cells? Yeah. And each of us in the family, we each have two packing cells, medium-sized packing cells. And within one packing cell, I can have like seven t-shirts and seven underwear, underpants, and even seven socks. Um, then it’s really tightly filled, but that’s all I need for one week. And then, um, in a, in a different cell, I have like a long, long pants and shorts and, and, and a pullover. Um, so that’s sort of two cells is all I need for.

Anders
51:42 – 51:43
My wife uses the packing

Mark
51:43 – 51:44
cell.

Anders
51:44 – 51:44
Uh,

Mark
51:44 – 51:52
I generally don’t only because of the shape of my. Carry-on suitcase. Oh, yeah as

Anders
51:52 – 51:53
a dip in the middle

Mark
51:53 – 51:59
like Anna and a rich Yeah, which is good for for rolling things because you can put it on each side of this ridge as you

Speaker 2
51:59 – 52:00
go. Oh, yeah

Mark
52:00 – 52:08
Yeah in the top section there is a bit I could use it then zip it in but I like to I like to put my electronic stuff in that and zip it in section to hold it

Anders
52:09 – 52:10
Hold it in

Mark
52:10 – 52:10
place

Anders
52:10 – 52:12
and for easy access if you want.

Mark
52:12 – 52:18
Yeah, so I don’t generally use one but one thing Packing cell does come in handy for is to put your dirty clothes in and

Anders
52:18 – 52:22
take to the laundry and things like that. So true Always

Mark
52:23 – 52:25
always a great thing to do with your packing. So

Anders
52:25 – 52:35
yeah, yeah, we have for dirty clothes. We have it’s it’s sort of a back so sort of a watertight or

Mark
52:36 – 52:37
string bag.

Anders
52:37 – 53:17
Yeah, something like that. Yeah, it’s it’s good. What you know, I really enjoy going into shops that that have this kind of stuff and I can easily get into buying stuff that I really do not need. We talked about Black Friday at the beginning of this episode. Should something come up for this Black Friday where I can go into an outdoor shop and find gear like that, that’s where I’m easily falling into the bad habit of buying stuff that I don’t need, because I love this stuff.

Mark
53:20 – 53:24
I bought a new power bank for one of my phones the other

Anders
53:24 – 53:25
day. It

Mark
53:25 – 53:28
pushes into the bottom of the phone, just like a portable one. So

Anders
53:28 – 53:28
I was like,

Mark
53:29 – 53:37
yeah, okay, I could do with one of them. And I bought one of them waterproof little sack bags that you can roll up. So I thought, what if it rains? I’ve got a camera that needs to go in there,

Anders
53:37 – 53:38
doesn’t it?

Mark
53:41 – 53:49
I bought a new microphone for For some vlogging because I actually had two little DJI microphones and I lost one in China.

Speaker 2
53:49 – 53:49
I don’t know

Mark
53:49 – 53:51
whether it fell off my Bag,

Speaker 2
53:52 – 53:52
I had a

Mark
53:52 – 54:02
clip too, but I was pretty upset about that because they’re about $180 each Yeah, and I’d only had it for a couple of weeks. So I was pretty devo about that. So

Speaker 2
54:03 – 54:04
oh yeah,

Mark
54:04 – 54:12
so I want to be much more careful with it because I I really need to, because if me and Rebecca are filming for YouTube, we both

Anders
54:12 – 54:12
need a

Mark
54:12 – 54:16
speaker. Otherwise it sounds to be crappy when one person’s really clear and the other person.

Anders
54:17 – 54:28
And these DJI microphones, actually, I was going to ask you about that. Are they easy to pair with your camera? I don’t know if you use your phone or you have a separate camera.

Mark
54:28 – 54:31
If you’ve got Bluetooth if your camera’s got Bluetooth

Anders
54:31 – 54:31
you can

Mark
54:31 – 54:33
just connect it via Bluetooth

Anders
54:33 – 54:34
Oh cool

Mark
54:34 – 54:48
or your camera if it’s not and you’ve got like Something they actually come with you can get like a home base docking thing that plugs into your camera and then they will connect to like

Speaker 2
54:48 – 54:48
oh,

Mark
54:48 – 54:50
yeah, I this other dock that sits

Anders
54:50 – 54:50
on top,

Mark
54:50 – 54:52
but that makes the system dearer.

Anders
54:53 – 54:53
If

Mark
54:53 – 55:00
you only need the little microphone, that’s a lot cheaper. They’re still pretty dear

Anders
55:01 – 55:01
though. I think a

Mark
55:01 – 55:07
whole kit, even with the docking stations, around $500 or $600. Yeah, they are. For two speakers.

Anders
55:08 – 55:22
But if you are a vlogger, you need it. i see them all over all all the youtubers that i follow they more or less all of them they use these dji they have this wind socket on it yeah the little

Mark
55:22 – 55:23
fluffy bits on

Anders
55:23 – 55:24
top

Mark
55:24 – 55:27
yeah i don’t like there if it’s not windy i don’t use them so

Anders
55:27 – 55:28
yeah i think they look

Mark
55:28 – 55:31
a little bit uh i don’t know a little bit funny

Anders
55:32 – 55:32
Yeah,

Mark
55:32 – 55:38
yeah makes you stand out a little bit too much You can sort of get away with it a bit if you’ve just got a black t-shirt on and a black black speaker

Anders
55:38 – 55:39
Yeah,

Mark
55:39 – 55:44
and you can just sort of walk around a little bit incognito, but if you put the wind the wind muff on top of it

Anders
55:45 – 55:46
Yeah, are you uncomfortable

Mark
55:46 – 56:09
vlogging in in in other people’s presence? I’ve gotten better. I must admit. Um, I watched a few videos on this and people are like, you just got to, you just got to take no notice and you just got to do it. If you want to succeed, you’ve just got to do it, you know, and why care what people think who don’t know you, you know, you know, you’ve got to be out

Anders
56:09 – 56:09
there. If you want to

Mark
56:09 – 56:23
be there, you need to be present. You need to be out there. You need not worry about it. And that’s a really hard thing to do actually, but I have got better at not worrying where once upon a time I would never film when there was people around and, but yeah, but people

Anders
56:23 – 56:23
who

Mark
56:23 – 56:26
are successful, this film wherever they want, this

Anders
56:26 – 56:31
is what you gotta do. I don’t know these people. I don’t care what they think, you know, I’m trying to. You know, have a

Mark
56:31 – 56:33
successful channel or a successful business.

Anders
56:34 – 56:35
And you know, I can’t

Mark
56:35 – 56:37
let these people, the fear

Anders
56:37 – 56:37
of

Mark
56:37 – 56:41
what people are thinking about me, who I don’t know affect what affect what I’m doing.

Anders
56:41 – 57:20
I agree. Absolutely. I agree. It’s it’s, but it is a mental challenge to begin with. It is something you know, I don’t really feel comfortable speaking out loud about this and that. But yeah, and also, you you maybe That’s what I’ve been thinking. Sometimes, you know, people, if you want to film and report from a certain environment, you don’t want people to take notice because you want it to be authentic. But still, it doesn’t really hold water, that argument, because you just got to have to you know, be able to report and just do it.

Anders
57:20 – 57:57
And I’ve seen a couple of times people coming back to, this didn’t happen to me, but another vlogger I saw live in Munich, and there were, because Germans and their privacy, and they went up to them and said, you know, I don’t wanna be filmed. Well, first of all, you are allowed to film anywhere public, at least in Germany, you are allowed to do that. And secondly, you know, why would I, I don’t worry about that if I’m filmed and end up in someone else’s vlog. I mean, this is, I mean, yeah, that can happen.

Anders
57:58 – 58:06
But I see vloggers, they blur people’s face. Yeah, the backgrounds and things like that. Yeah. I don’t go that far yet.

Mark
58:07 – 58:10
Yeah, it’s it’s just that is what it is. I

Anders
58:10 – 58:10
mean, it’s

Mark
58:10 – 58:21
the only thing I really try and be careful about is if there’s a lot of kids around I guess people yeah Yeah, touchy about about that. Um, you know, especially if you’re down the beach or something there’s kids running around in bathing suits

Anders
58:22 – 58:22
Yeah,

Mark
58:22 – 58:25
yeah and things like that like, you know, I mean because

Anders
58:25 – 58:26
no one

Mark
58:26 – 58:28
actually knows who you are or what you’re doing I

Anders
58:28 – 58:28
guess

Mark
58:28 – 58:32
no no, you know, I mean i’m not running around taking photos

Anders
58:32 – 58:34
of kids in bathers or anything of course not they happen to

Mark
58:34 – 58:39
be they just happen to be in the background of yeah of you know a scene at a beach or something like that but

Anders
58:39 – 58:39
yeah but

Mark
58:40 – 58:44
rebecca’s always big on that my wife should i say just be careful because there’s a lot of kids here and

Anders
58:44 – 58:45
a lot of

Mark
58:45 – 58:47
families and things like that so i go yeah okay

Anders
58:47 – 59:21
And it is true. I mean, you have to respect people’s feelings about this. And should someone come up to me and say, you know, I’m not really comfortable with you filming here. I would probably respect that. I would just say, you know, don’t worry. I’m just doing a story. This has nothing to do with you. I’m just filming a story and want to go on, but I will respect what you’re saying. Do you do any YouTubing anymore? I used to make some really good YouTubes. I

Mark
59:21 – 59:23
used to like your channel. Your channel was really good.

Anders
59:24 – 59:59
Yeah, thank you very much. I maybe I could plug a link to that because I had a whole year I would do once a month, I would do like a 10 minute vlog about living in Germany. Fantastic. Yeah. But I haven’t, you know, after a year, I kind of, I would kind of follow the season, you know, what’s, what’s kind of the thing going on at this particular time of the year. But after that one year, I just You know, I always say, you know, in vlogging. in blogging and anything, even in podcasting, story is king.

Anders
59:59 – 1:00:23
You have, as long as the story is good, you can engage your audience. And I kind of struggled with the vlog after a while saying, what kind of interesting stuff can I report? So that’s really, that’s really what it comes down to. Also, I must say, yeah, it is, it is. I must say it’s also a lot of work doing a proper video. That is a lot

Mark
1:00:23 – 1:00:23
of work.

Anders
1:00:24 – 1:00:24
Yeah.

Mark
1:00:25 – 1:00:28
I’m just putting one together at the moment about seven days that we spend in the

Anders
1:00:29 – 1:00:29
town

Mark
1:00:29 – 1:00:31
that willows in and I’m

Anders
1:00:31 – 1:00:31
trying

Mark
1:00:31 – 1:00:32
to chop eight days

Anders
1:00:32 – 1:00:34
into and I’m so far up to about 48

Mark
1:00:34 – 1:00:36
minutes and

Anders
1:00:36 – 1:00:39
oh wow and I go and I go still the amount of editing

Mark
1:00:39 – 1:00:41
I’m going to have to do

Anders
1:00:41 – 1:00:42
and the amount of voiceover

Mark
1:00:42 – 1:00:46
work I’m going to have to do and transitions and things

Anders
1:00:46 – 1:00:46
like this to

Mark
1:00:46 – 1:01:03
make some of these parts work and one of the things that I always find is I always come back from somewhere and I go I never actually finished I never actually did a finish like I never I never summed it up on camera and went okay okay so we’ve been here now and this is what we loved about it you

Anders
1:01:04 – 1:01:04
know I’ll

Mark
1:01:04 – 1:01:08
come I’ll do all this filming it and I’ll just forget one bit all the time or something

Anders
1:01:08 – 1:01:48
you know. Yeah, no, it is a lot of work. And if you don’t do it like professionally, there can be shortcuts on the computer and workarounds that you’re not familiar with. It can take a lot of time, whereas if you’re a professional and you’re used to working in whatever software you’re editing in, you can quickly get to a good result. But whereas if you’re an amateur and don’t do it on an everyday basis, editing like what you say, 48 minute video at the moment. That takes a lot of time. It really does. I’ve been working on that

Mark
1:01:48 – 1:01:49
for about three weeks. I reckon I’m about 20

Anders
1:01:50 – 1:01:50
odd hours

Mark
1:01:50 – 1:01:50
in.

Anders
1:01:50 – 1:01:52
I haven’t

Mark
1:01:52 – 1:02:08
even finished adding all the footage I need, but you know, you really need to go in with a plan and that’s something I lack. Like I know a lot of. a lot of deficits I have in my my creative output at this stage and you know and I Because when I’m going somewhere like

Anders
1:02:08 – 1:02:09
China, I don’t actually know

Mark
1:02:09 – 1:02:33
what I’m gonna say. So I Don’t really have a great plan. I just go and I film as much stuff as I can. Yeah Okay. Now let’s try and put this together with a few with the voiceover or with what I’ve said before well there but but yeah it sort of makes it hard if you had enough time and you you could plan out exactly what you’re going to do would make it a lot easier but yeah when you’re going overseas a lot of it’s fly by the seat of your pants and you go okay well

Anders
1:02:33 – 1:02:33
i might go here

Mark
1:02:33 – 1:02:36
but actually this is going to make a good good youtube video

Anders
1:02:36 – 1:02:37
i haven’t

Mark
1:02:37 – 1:02:42
had any time to research it or you know but i’m here now so i need to start filming you know and things like

Anders
1:02:42 – 1:03:28
that I’m kind of thinking about what you’re saying, because a couple of very famous YouTubers, they’ve, you know, addressed this particular thing. Because if you have to follow a sort of a script every time, that can be stressful, because then you probably want to get to a certain location and do the proper filming at maybe even a certain time of day or whatever. Whereas if you just travel and enjoy the travel and make, like you do, film as much as you can, then the story eventually will evolve and you find a narrative somehow. It takes a little bit longer to edit it because you’ve got

Mark
1:03:28 – 1:03:43
so much footage and you go, well, I can’t just show it all. And in today’s society of Lovers where everyone’s got a short span of attention There’s a lot of I find I need to do a lot of splicing

Anders
1:03:43 – 1:03:43
and

Mark
1:03:43 – 1:03:53
cutting and you know and keeping yeah scenes You know shorter and moving all the time because that’s the attention span of what people want to watch today You know if I put a clip that goes

Anders
1:03:53 – 1:03:55
one minute of me walking somewhere looking

Mark
1:03:55 – 1:04:00
at something after 10 seconds or 15 seconds people are gonna go Nah, but if

Anders
1:04:00 – 1:04:00
I cut

Mark
1:04:00 – 1:04:17
that clip into four or five sections, I can probably splice it in through the whole movie in different bits to use that whole clip, you know what I mean? But if I just had that running for one minute in the clip, people would go, even if it was super useful to, you know, show where we’re doing it, yeah, people would just

Anders
1:04:18 – 1:05:29
It’s really, it’s very interesting, because that certainly is a consideration that most content creators, they need to make. Having said that, I’m actually, well, maybe it’s because of my age, so maybe I’m a different target group, but I enjoy YouTube videos that are sort of slow. There’s a, this is very specific, but there’s a guy living in Portland, Oregon, who has a wood shop. And he’s taking all these very, very huge wooden chunks and he creates like furniture tables and he will sometimes mix it with acrylic plate because in the in the wooden ores and stuff that can be spaces and he will fill it up with with yeah he will he will polish it and make it and these videos they say like 45 minutes He films them over what I guess will be months.

Anders
1:05:30 – 1:06:17
But even cut down to like 45 minutes, it’s a long video and there are long steps where you just see what he’s doing and he will do time lapses and stuff. it’s enjoyable. And for me, it’s kind of soothing when I have my lunch or whatever, I will put one on one of those videos and just just relax watching this, this on earth, this this beautiful table or whatever it is he’s doing. I enjoy that. But it’s different when it’s a travel video. But Have you heard about the movement of, I think we touched base on this, there’s a channel where they put a camera in front of a train and they just, you know, for eight hours.

Anders
1:06:17 – 1:06:18
Yeah, the

Mark
1:06:18 – 1:06:19
train drives, yeah,

Anders
1:06:19 – 1:06:25
I’ve seen a few of them. So there are videos like that where

Mark
1:06:25 – 1:06:27
you just,

Anders
1:06:27 – 1:06:33
but the premise is set from the beginning. So you know what you’re going into, you know, and it’s probably a different, it’s

Mark
1:06:33 – 1:06:34
very, very nice.

Anders
1:06:35 – 1:06:37
Yeah. Yeah.

Mark
1:06:38 – 1:06:39
That’s what I like. I want to watch it.

Anders
1:06:39 – 1:07:23
Yeah, exactly. So, so, but you are right. Um, you probably, uh, as a content creator, um, particularly in, in, in terms of travel, you, you, you want to, you know, attract as many as many types of audience as possible. And there should be a little bit for every taste. So yeah, and what we’re doing right now a podcast is also not to everyone’s taste because you have Depending on how you’re using podcasts or listening to podcasts, you can put on a pair of headphones and just do other things while listening to it. Or you can sit down and have a cup of coffee and listen to it for an hour.

Anders
1:07:23 – 1:07:28
I don’t know. It depends on whatever person you are, doesn’t it?

Mark
1:07:29 – 1:07:31
Most definitely. Most definitely.

Anders
1:07:31 – 1:07:40
Yeah. So, Mark, this has been yet another hour. At least this one, isn’t it? This might be the

Mark
1:07:40 – 1:07:42
longest one we’ve actually done.

Anders
1:07:43 – 1:08:01
I think so, yeah. I really enjoy these and we’re going to have one next week as well. Marc, can you tell us quickly about, because we talked about it before we started recording, but the website is coming up. What’s the plan there?

Mark
1:08:02 – 1:08:14
Yeah, so we have a website. I’m still just refining it a little bit, but there’ll be each week when we release a podcast, there’ll be a link, there’ll be a couple articles that

Anders
1:08:14 – 1:08:15
come out. There’ll

Mark
1:08:15 – 1:08:49
be one, there’ll be a transcript of this. So if you don’t want to actually listen to the podcast, you can read the podcast, I guess, if that’s what you want to do. I’m not quite sure how you’ll find it just by reading it, but you know, nevertheless, that option is there and then there will be an article also with an embedded version of our podcast from either Spotify or Apple Music or YouTube, maybe all of them, maybe I’ll just embed all three players in each article so you can take your choice on which platform you’re

Anders
1:08:49 – 1:08:49
a member of

Mark
1:08:49 – 1:08:52
or which platform you want to listen to it on. Exactly.

Anders
1:08:52 – 1:08:52
So

Mark
1:08:52 – 1:08:54
that’ll be it at this stage and

Anders
1:08:54 – 1:08:55
there’ll be an About

Mark
1:08:55 – 1:08:55
Us

Anders
1:08:55 – 1:08:56
page, a

Mark
1:08:56 – 1:09:05
little bit about me and Anders and So yeah, so it’ll come along slowly. Uh, it’s actually live at the moment, but I’m not going to give you the address because it’s still just needs a little bit of

Anders
1:09:06 – 1:09:06
a little bit of

Mark
1:09:06 – 1:09:12
refining first. So next week we’ll, uh, we’ll release the address and you can have a look if you want to.

Anders
1:09:12 – 1:09:17
Yeah. And you can also already now you can look us up at, uh, on Facebook, Facebook,

Mark
1:09:17 – 1:09:19
YouTube, Instagram.

Anders
1:09:19 – 1:09:19
Yeah.

Mark
1:09:20 – 1:09:21
We’re everywhere.

Anders
1:09:22 – 1:09:22
Exactly

Mark
1:09:22 – 1:09:24
the market. I’m going to blanket the market.

Anders
1:09:24 – 1:10:07
Yeah. No, it’s, it’s coming along nicely. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a hobby thing we do. So, so, but if you have suggestions, please do, please do right. Mark, I, um, um, I also wanted to mention we, we, we have an increasing number of listeners. Um, I still need, uh, the, the, the final analytics. It takes a while, up to at least a month to start getting some proper analytics on listeners. But I can see that it’s slowly coming together and we are having an increasing number of listeners. So thank you very much for listening. Yes, most definitely.

Mark
1:10:07 – 1:10:14
We appreciate everyone that takes the time to tune in to listen to me and Anders chat about something where passionate about or even

Anders
1:10:14 – 1:10:15
just

Mark
1:10:15 – 1:10:16
ramble on about something we’re talking about.

Anders
1:10:18 – 1:10:26
Exactly. So thank you very much and have a good week and we’ll be back again in about a week’s time.

Mark
1:10:26 – 1:10:28
Talk to you next