Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 107: Isolate Yourself With Yourself ft Matthew | Ear Biscuits Ep. 107

Episode Date: August 14, 2017

Rhett & Link sit down with Mythical Crew member, Matthew Dwyer, to talk his solo adventures, the dangers of selfies, how hard it is to find ice in Iceland, and more on this week's episode of Ear Biscuits. Listen & subscribe at: Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/29PTWTM Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2oIaAwp Art19: https://art19.com/shows/ear-biscuits SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/earbiscuits Follow This Is Mythical: Facebook: http://facebook.com/ThisIsMythical Instagram: http://instagram.com/ThisIsMythical Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThisIsMythical Other Mythical Channels: Good Mythical Morning: https://www.youtube.com/user/rhettandlink2 Good Mythical MORE: https://youtube.com/user/rhettandlink3 Rhett & Link: https://youtube.com/rhettandlink Credits: Credits: Hosted By: Rhett & Link Featuring: Matthew Dwyer Executive Producer: Stevie Wynne Levine Managing Producer:  Cody D'Ambrosio Technical Director / Editor:  Meggie Malloy Graphics: Matthew Dwyer Set Design/Construction: Cassie Cobb Content Manager:  Becca Canote Logo Design: Carra Sykes To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting, we have Mythical Entertainment employee, Matthew, who did a very Mythical thing that we're going to talk about, his solo trips to Japan and Iceland. And we'll get into exactly why we're talking about

that very mythical thing with a very mythical person. Extremely fascinating. That taps into a passion of ours, which we have written about in a book. Yes we have. But we'll talk about that. But first, we gotta keep the life blood flowing, which the more we share with you, Ear Biscuiteer,

the more we then have to update. So it's like we had this big long thing about, discussion about your throat malady. And I know you went back to the doctor to get a special scope. And it's not that I don't care about you. But you didn't ask anything about it. I didn't ask.

Well you didn't ask about my optometry visit either. Were you saving, I was saving it until now because I want to hear along with the listeners how it went because. Are you equating your optometry visit with my throat visit? No I was just saying, but you didn't ask me if my vision changed, it didn't, it didn't.

That's so sensitive. Your throat better? So sensitive of you. It's not that I don't think anything's wrong with your throat. I wish I had a simple answer for you, Link. I wish I had a simple answer for you. The answer is my throat is not better. I did not do that on cue.

How convenient. My throat is not better. I did not do that on cue. How convenient. My throat, better. I still, okay, good news, bad news, okay? Why don't I just tell you the story because I went back to the doctor, the doctor that I talked about on the show. Did he know you talked about him?

Was he listening? Isn't that the question everybody has? So. Well I don't know. As I was driving to the doctor, I was thinking about the fact that. You dished his, you dished the dirt on him. The podcast was coming out

and I had not yet been to him but there was like a 24 hour period between the time the podcast came out and. He had a, he certainly could have listened to the podcast. Yes, yes. But to be clear, I also thought about what I said and I didn't, I mean, I didn't throw the guy under the bus. I just, I told a story about how I felt

that he was posturing a little bit because he didn't know who I was and the little bit because he didn't know who I was and the girls in the office didn't know who I was. It's something you would never say to him that then if he heard you talk about it to a lot of other people that weren't him, he would then probably feel weird and it might color the experience you had with him next.

The follow-up procedure? Yeah. Yeah, so then I started thinking about what he was gonna. I mean, he is gonna put an apparatus down your throat. What he was gonna be doing to me, and I was like, well, I mean, I didn't say anything offensive, and I think if he's,

based on everything that I know about the guy. Maybe he would apologize. He's got like a, it seems like he's got a good sense of humor. So he'd probably be like, oh, I heard your podcast, pretty funny stuff, or something like that. But all indications when I returned to the doctor's office were that no one had.

He still had his head up his own butt. No one had listened, I'm not gonna say anything, no one had listened to the podcast. So apparently they're not Ear Biscuits fans at the office, which is fine by me. But it was firmly established that many of them were fans. Well, but that doesn't mean, I mean, if you listen to Ear Biscuits, that's a-

They're not a true fan like you. That's a special fan. You special listener. Just because somebody's seen an episode or two of Good Mythical Morning, I mean, who hasn't? Right, am I right, am I right? And can't bring themselves to speak to you when they're doing a medical exam, like the nurse could.

Well, we don't need to rehash all that. I'm just saying, odds were pretty high that someone there said, hey doc, you should listen to him. Yeah, I thought about that. So I was scanning everyone's face when I went back. No indication that anyone had seen it or if they had, they were playing it cool. So it was just.

Did you see the nurse who couldn't speak to you? Yeah. Could she speak to you? Interesting, so she. Interesting. She did not come in, a different one came in to do my like initial like evaluation. But then when the doctor came in,

the same girl from before came in with him. Did she say anything this time? The girl that won't see me by herself, the girl that will only see me with the doctor, she came back again. She didn't say anything, she smiled a lot. Oh gosh. So, but here, this is basically what happened.

So. Did he get macho? He was super cool. He was cool. Honestly, he was like, he was super cool and super nice and like super understanding to the point that I thought that maybe he listened

and he felt bad. Like, but I also think that I was reading a lot into the last time. Maybe you feel bad. And it's all in my head. Well nothing else is all in your head, so how's your throat? So, he looks at, oh no, so he comes in there

and he's like, okay, well, I'm like, well I've still got the situation, like when I talk for a while, I mean it's happening right now, we just finished talking to Matthew, and so it's like, there's irritation. But it gets a little bit better every day. But you don't wanna go five or six weeks with a throat problem.

It just becomes annoying, right? So I wanted to get, definitely. I wanted to be over with. But it's not going away. So I was like, I'm still having the issue, but it seems like it's getting going away. So I was like I'm still having the issue but you know, it seems like it's getting a little bit better it's just not going away fast enough. And he's like well I'm gonna take a look

at your vocal cords. Which is what you wanted. You wanted definitive proof that there's not some like nasty polyp growth fill in the blank on your vocal cords. Yeah you're getting what you want finally. Yeah, I wanna know that like, because you know, if you do what I do and you start reading things on the internet,

which is almost always a mistake, especially as it relates to medical problems, you talk yourself into, well, I probably have some sort of irritation that's gonna require vocal rest, whatever and so. Yeah. So he says, okay, well I'm gonna look at your vocal cords and I'm going to do, I'm just gonna use the scope. I'm not gonna do the video scope.

No, video strobe, which is apparently this thing where they bring a voice, like a voice therapist in and they put a strobe light basically on your vocal cords and they have you do all these exercises and then they can analyze the vocal cords to make sure that you're using them properly so you're not doing things that induce damage. And he was like all singers and all voice

professionals should really do this to make sure you're using your voice but we're not gonna do that today. You should come back for that. What I'm gonna do today is I'm gonna use this little thing. Basically the thing that you had done in the plastic surgery video that we did. Did you gagalicious? So and I was like listen I have a horrible gag reflex.

He's like well I'm gonna do two things. I'm gonna spray this thing in your nose that like deadens the nose and I'm going to spray this other thing that opens up the passages. Yeah. And so he's like. And boy that was an odd feeling. He left for about 10 or 15 minutes to let it completely set in

and not being able to feel your nose and the back of your, like top of your throat, that's like a disconcerting feeling and I was like swallowing and I couldn't feel myself swallowing and then I was like, I'm just like sitting there in the doctor's office by myself like. Like the clucking chicken?

Swallowing and worrying about myself. I'm the clucking chicken? Swallowing and worrying about myself. I'm the clucking chicken. And then he comes in and he's like okay, and he like looks up there and he's like, well first of all you have a severely deviated septum. Which I already knew. What is that? It just means that you're.

The separator in between your nostrils in the back is undulated? Yeah and one of the factoids I learned on the video screen in the doctor's office while I was waiting is that 80% of the population has a deviated septum. Which I also knew that lots of people have a deviated septum but he was like, you have a pretty severely deviated septum. He's like, but he wasn't like,

we should get that operated on. He was just like, it's a pretty simple operation. We can talk about that later. Oh. It could be one of the things that contributes like sinus issues that then creates, who knows, maybe it's all creating a problem. But the scope, man.

But. He throws in the scope. But the thing about the scope is that if your septum is deviated, it can be kinda difficult to get back there. You gotta power through it. But he was like, I'm gonna push on this thing and he's like, don't worry, it's not sharp. But he's pushing on it and he's like,

and it's like hitting my nose and I'm going and then I can feel it get through my nose. Oh, like an ice pick? And then I can feel it in the back of my throat, and then I'm just sitting there going. I sound like an alien. You made that noise? And he's like, you're doing great.

I'm like, well I'd like to see the guy who's not doing great. Because I do not feel great. I do not feel as if I'm coming across like I'm doing great right now. And the nurse is taking selfies with you. Yeah. But actually I don't think I did that bad

because I eventually quit making noises and I was able to kind of go and breathe like that. Did you do that thing where you like raise one eyebrow? I typically only do that in pictures. And so then I, so then he's like okay, and he like pulls it out. It feels like somebody's just pulling something,

it's crazy how it feels. Like a worm, like a camera worm. It's like sometimes when you were a kid and you started choking on a piece of spaghetti. Yeah and then you pull it out through your nose. And you can like, nah, I never pulled it out through my nose. So he says, well the good news is, no he didn't say that, he was just like, there's nothing wrong with your vocal cords.

He's like, they're inflamed but there's not like damage or a polyp or a cyst or something like that. He's like, they're just inflamed, like it's still inflamed. So. What's the bad news? That's great, by the way. I mean the bad news is they're still inflamed.

So I was like. That he doesn't have a definitive answer for you. Might it be allergies? He was like, maybe. You said might it be allergies? He was like, maybe. But then, but that. You said might it be allergies? Yeah, that's how I, I speak to medical professionals,

I use very proper grammar so they'll respect me. Might it be allergers, allergies, doctor? Might it be allergers? Might it be allergers? Allergers is the term that we use. Up and doing some thank yous. Might it be allergies? Allergers is the term that we use. Up and doing some thank yous. Might it be allergies?

Doc, I got one question before I leave. Might it be allergies? So he said maybe, it might be. Might it be? Might it be? But that didn't turn into, so I'm gonna give you some prescription medication, which I don't want more medication.

It turned into, I'm gonna give you the bill now. Yeah, I'm gonna give you some prescription medication, which I don't want more medication. It turned into, I'm gonna give you the bill now. Yeah, it turned into, Let's wrap this up. I'm gonna charge you for this procedure that I just did and you're gonna go back about your life. And so, but. But are you? I'm not, now my worry has shifted. Go.

Yeah. It's like whack-a-mole. I'm not like worried about vocal cord damage. I'm just worried about, well what is it that's causing this? Like what is it really? You're worried about me, aren't you? Is it you causing it? It's just how I feel.

Yeah. But I'm not that worried. I'd say it's a pretty, it's a pretty. You know it's nothing that's permanent or devastating. But no, it could be a systemic infection that's gonna kill me, but chances are pretty small that that's the case. But at least there's something for you to talk about.

Yeah. All right, success. Well I'm glad, I mean, all you had to do was ask, man. I could've told you this a couple of weeks ago. Just try to find some peace of mind in it, okay? It's good news. I'm trying, man, that's why I went to the doctor. But now, with what the doctor told you, he found nothing devastating.

So, let's celebrate. By showing some love to our sponsors. Yeah, let's do that. We like to eat. We like to eat snacks. Yes. Problem with that is that we usually have two choices. We got to choose between delicious and a billion calories

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and NatureBox will deliver them right to your door. I am so pumped up about NatureBox that I am going to perform a jingle that I'm gonna write right as I'm performing it. I don't know if you're authorized to do that. Nature Box, it's like a box full of nature. And by nature, I mean snacks. Hundreds of snacks that you can choose, choose from,

and they taste, taste good and are actually better for you than crappy snacks. Because there's no crappy snacks at NatureBox. Yeah. Dot com. Well, it's not NatureBox. Yeah. Dot com. So I should say NatureBox.com.

Okay. That was a great jingle. Thank you. I have a few critiques. It doesn't rhyme at literally any point. There was not a rhyme in there. Well, it was jam- jam packed full of tasty information. I also have to say, I think I'm legally bound to say

that is not the official jingle for NatureBox. Yet. That is Link's jingle. That is not even our jingle for NatureBox. That is Link's jingle for NatureBox. Sweet Sally, get ready for the sea salt chickpeas. Oh gosh. If you please give me those cause they're simple and nice and salty

but not too salty. It's just right. Well you might as well sing about the honey barbecue crunch because I like that. Rhett likes the honey barbecue crunch. It's so crunchy and barbecue honey. Okay, that was the part that I endorsed, was that last part. I endorse all the facts that were in Link's jingle. I do not endorse the melody, the rhyme scheme,

or the inflection. There is no risk. If you ever try a snack you don't like, don't eat it. NatureBox will replace it for free. And right now, you Ear Biscuit listener, you can get three free snacks with your first order if you go to naturebox.com slash ear. That's naturebox.com slash ear for three free snacks with your first order, naturebox.com slash ear.

Hey, Spotify listeners, did you know that you can be listening to this podcast, yes, Ear Biscuits, on Spotify. And it, well, unless you're already listening to it on Spotify, we don't have to tell you that. But maybe you've never listened to anything on Spotify, well this is also a good reason to Spotify it up for the first time because this podcast, Ear Biscuits, is on Spotify.

Yes. Did I say that? You did. The streaming service that you know and love for music is also fully loaded with podcasts. Find us in the podcast section within the browse tab when you're using Spotify on mobile or just by searching for Ear Biscuits. While you're there, click to follow us

to have our new episodes delivered right into your Spotify library. Head to Spotify.com slash podcasts for more. It's a beautiful arrangement. Now on with the biscuit. I am happy for, I know I've been giving you a hard time about your medical condition. I didn't just put it in air quotes.

But I'm glad. You wait until you have a problem, man. You wait until you have a problem. That's the thing, I'm not waiting. See if I come around. Well you're helpful because you'll Google it for me. You'll figure it out, you'll run all the numbers for me. So what I'm trying to say is I know I'm giving you

a hard time but I'm glad that you don't have anything. Because I would feel really bad if you had something. But I don't think we're on the same page. You still feel bad but you don't have anything. You don't have throat cancer, man. But how could you, but no, but how can you, if you feel bad you have something. A cold.

It's probably nothing serious. You have an elongated cold. Colds don't last six weeks. Where you going now? Who you gonna see now? I'm not going anywhere, I'm gonna stay right here. I wanna explain what Matthew does for us as a member of the Mythical Crew for people who don't understand.

Matthew, thank you for joining us here. You are a solo adventurist and we didn't even know it. So we're gonna talk about that but. I'm interested in having you explain that. What Matthew does, I'd like to see your perspective. Yeah me too actually, I'm very interested. Are both of you trying to say I don't know what Matthew does here at Mythical Entertainment?

No. I send you notes all the time on stuff that you do. Like I know it's centered, but can you make it look more centered by un-centering this? So a lot of graphics work. Very excited about the branding and rebranding of lots of things. The inventor of logos.

So anything that's graphical that, I would, not every single thing we do that's graphical. Yeah, correct. But a lot of graphic design is to your credit, sir. Thank you. Yeah, I would say. Lots of logo work for Mythical.

This is Mythical, and merch. Merch that people don't even know exists yet has logo-ing that you've invented. That's pretty spot on, how do you think he did, Rhett? He did, I feel like you missed a pretty big thing, which is. You do other things too, I'm leaving that to Rhett. I know he does other things, like what, Rhett? The massaging.

Is he not massaging you? Oh yeah, he's the masseuse. Is he not massaging you? He's the masseuse. Every Friday? Man. Is that just me? Matthew, why don't you speak up about the masseusing

you've been doing discriminately? Well, the other thing that goes into what I do as well is I actually do a lot of the photography here.'ve been doing discriminately. Well, the other thing that goes in to what I do as well is I actually do a lot of the photography here. So even today, that was it. We were doing a big photo shoot for new merch that's coming out and we've gotten to the point where I've done this enough where Rhett's hair is out of place and I was like, I'm just gonna do it

and I went in there. Yeah, he did. Just got all up in there. But I was watching this happen. In my mind that was a massage. And it made it, that massage made his hair worse. Yeah I realized I wasn't good at it and immediately stopped.

And then Rhett had to use the mirror function on his phone. I've had a weird hair day so I appreciate it. The other thing that, you may have mentioned this in passing but I mean anything that moves on the screen of Good Mythical Morning that is not. I did not mention that yet. That is not us.

He's responsible for. Motion graphics, so you design graphics. Well not just things that move. And then you put them in motion. Yeah, the way I describe it to anyone else that tells me oh what's your job, what do you do? I say you know when like words move on TV and like movies and stuff, that's what I do. Because when you say graphics or text, people don't exactly imagine perfectly picturing.

That's a dog. I don't know what Jade's barking at. No, she's agreeing with me, I think. I'm going to snap at her and then nothing's going to happen. But yeah, when you say graphics or even titles, people aren't exactly picturing, but when I just say words, when they move, people are like, oh yeah, I've seen words move. And words move quite a bit around here.

More and more all the time, thanks to you. Exactly. So I think that's- I love it when words move. I love it when logos come together. Mm-hmm. Another thing that we love is the idea, I'm transitioning here, to the idea of going somewhere solo, like solo adventuring.

Well, we like it so much that we made it a chapter in the Book of Mythicality. So again, Rhett and Link's book of mythicality, the book that we have coming out in October, is all about what mythicality is. And a combination of curiosity, creativity, and tomfoolery is what it is. But we talk about how we've experienced

that in our lives and how we try to pursue it. And we've, you know. And through 20 tenets. Yeah, and mythicality is not limited to the 20 tenets of mythicality that are in the book of mythicality, but they are at least equal, they at least include that. So in one of those is a chapter, each chapter is a tenet of mythicality, and one of those is a chapter, each chapter is a tentative mythicality

and one of those chapters is isolate yourself with yourself where we talk about times that we have personally attempted to isolate ourselves to find time alone, how important it is to us both in the past and now because we do think that, especially as we've gotten busier and busier as the years have gone by, there's a lot of things going on, not just in our business lives,

but also the fact that we've got families and so you're kind of always around people and then when we're not always around our families, we're always around each other. Yeah. And so you begin to value that time to yourself. And in that chapter we trace, have you read the chapter? You've seen the book, and it's...

I've seen various pieces. I've never really fully seen it. Okay, well it'll be required reading at some point. It will be required reading, right. But not yet because it's not officially published yet. But get on that train quick, buddy, because it's leaving the station. I mean, I helped kind of build the train a little bit,

so I would want to get on that train. Your name's in the credits. You graphically designed some of the stuff in there. But we give background about how over our entire lives, we've been anti-isolated. So we don't have to go into all those details here, but it brings us to a point where just a few days ago, where we heard, you know, we were talking with

Cody and Jacob, who help produce Ear Biscuits, and they just mentioned offhand that, oh, Matthew went to Iceland by himself on a trip over the summer. And we're like what? I'm so jealous. And one of the things that we wanna do on Ear Biscuits is talk to mythical people about mythical things

that they have done and are doing. And so we found out that you had manifested a tentative mythicality very recently in your life, we were like, well let's have an ear biscuit about that. And that brings us to this point. But I should have said that you can pre-order the book at bookofmythicality.com. Yeah.

You could have said that, Matt. Yeah. I could have. I'll say it a few times, bookofmythicality.com. See what it feels like for you to say it. Bookofmythicality.com. Bookofmythicality.com. There's really no excuse not to just visit the website.

So, I mean, how does one decide to be a solo adventurer? I know you have friends. This is not gonna be a sob story. I'm glad you know I have friends. That's good too. I don't know, I think it's just- I've been watching you and your friendships. I don't know.

I think it was like a slow accumulation. It was kinda, I think it goes into that bucket list category in life, you know, where you always think about these things. They're like, oh, I think it goes into that bucket list category in life, you know, where you always think about these things. They're like, oh, I want to do that someday. Yeah. And I think it was that for majority of my life until the first time I traveled alone, which wasn't Iceland, actually. I've traveled alone actually one internationally one more time time before and I actually went to Japan alone for two weeks.

Oh my. So which one should we talk about first? It's up to you. I mean I like to work chronologically and I think it kinda influences kinda why I did Iceland. Oh let's do that then. Well yeah. But even before that.

Yeah. So are you saying the bucket list item, yeah before that leading up to that was I wanna go to Japan. No I'm saying before that. Yeah. So are you saying the bucket list item, yeah, before that, leading up to that was, I wanna go to Japan. No, I'm saying before that. Or I want to travel alone. How do you become a person who knows that they can travel alone or should travel alone?

I think everybody should, but not everybody does. So you have to, there's something that has to click at some point. Yeah, that's a good point. I think it was, it's kind of like anything else in life. And I've tried to apply this to everything else in my life that like so many things seem that you've never done before seem hard or difficult or, oh, only certain. Yeah.

Only certain people can do this. Yeah. I know someone has traveled alone and done this before, but they're more brave or crazy, whatever you want to apply to them, no matter what it is. But I think it was a combo of things. I actually have a close friend who traveled alone. He actually skipped college, took a bunch of years off after high school and traveled Central America alone, traveled around Israel and the Middle East alone, traveled India alone. And that was

definitely a big factor for me was, you know, I went to college and we stayed in touch and whatnot. And so I kind of followed his journey, you know, alone through the world. And that made like that item on my bucket list just get bigger and bigger and bigger. That's like, I have to do that. I have to try this. I have to try this sometime. Yeah, I knew people that got married and had kids. And it sounds like a joke,

but especially the kids part, and hanging out with people who had kids. Kids are a joke. It's like, oh, I think I could, I think Christian and I, we could have kids. Like, a joke. It's like, oh, I think I could, I think Christy and I, we could have kids. Like I know. That's how it happened with you. I believe we may have children.

I remember hanging out with people with kids and I was like, they're doing it. This is what it's like. And it's, they can do it. Maybe I can do it. We should give it a shot. We shouldn't wait until we feel like we've got it figured all out to have a kid.

But I never met anyone who traveled anywhere solo, so I never thought I could do that too. Well, your life could have been so different. You had a friend. Yeah, so I think that was one factor right there. But then the other factor was, I did get to travel a good amount with my family as I was growing up.

I went on a lot of trips with my brother, my sister, and my dad, especially. But those were, you know, family trips, whether they're a road trip down to Florida or flying to San Francisco to visit an aunt. And it was always a family trip led by my dad, which I will say my dad is one of the best travelers I know in life, period. You know, he's very organized. which I will say my dad is one of the best travelers I know in life, period. He's very organized. He's very pro itinerary, or at least when he was traveling around with us all under the age of like 15,

like he had to be on top of everything. And he always seemed to know exactly what we were doing, what we were going to do next, and was just always keeping the time schedule for things. Was his name Rick Steves? No, just Michael Dwyer, but close enough. You know who Rick Steves is? Rick Steves Europe, one of my favorite shows.

He's a traveler, man. Yeah. He likes to over-enunciate these things. I wouldn't want him to be my dad, though. Yeah, the socks and the sandals wouldn't have worked. Yeah. But yeah, so. Did your dad wear and the sandals wouldn't have worked. But yeah, so. Did your dad wear socks with sandals, like Tevas?

No, no. Oh. No self-respecting person does that. He was an itinerary man and he was a sockless Teva wearing traveler. Exactly. Or did he wear like chakas? Or chakas?

Chakas are my mispronunciation, inevitably, of those fancier Tevas that have more straps. I don't go down that road. Oh, we're talking about the sandals that aren't flip flops that have the multiple straps. Strappy, strappy, strappy. Yes, he wears those, but no socks, no socks. Oh, cool.

Go ahead. Now that we've got your dad's feet pictured. But anyway, all my experiences with travel before were with my family, which I love and everything, but I think the number one thing I associated with it was lack of control, I think is the best way to describe it, was like I was being brought to these places that I wasn't necessarily choosing to go.

And I think that was one of those things that I just always thought about. I was like, oh, I wanna be able to go on a trip, but I'm in charge. And see what that's like. Without my family or anybody else. Yes. No companions.

Well, that is, I mean, being in control and then going companionless, going solo, that's still a bit of a leap. Did it take more than just the guy who did it to say, that thought is now in my head? I think the main time when I made the hard decision of went online, bought plane tickets, was actually, it was 2014, and I had already decided I was going to move to

Los Angeles. At the time I was living where I grew up and where I was living, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And I had already made the decision I was going to move to LA and I'd been saving up for well over a year. And I kind of realized I'd saved up more than I had planned. And then also realized like, oh, I could go on that trip. Like I have enough money that I could budget out a trip. And I especially knew the second I moved to Los Angeles, like I wouldn't think to travel outside the country alone while I was living in Los Angeles trying to find a job.

So, and I had already- You had some money stashed away, you had a window of time. And there was kind of a, okay, so I had already. You had some money stashed away, you had a window of time, and there was kind of a, okay, so I also see there's a little bit of a clean break. Like when you moved from Milwaukee to LA, was that just you? Did you even know anybody out here? I knew three people maybe.

That would be out here, but you didn't move out with them? No. Mm-hmm. Okay. And so that was the thing was, I already knew I was gonna move out alone, I already knew I was going to move out alone. I already knew I wanted to live alone in LA. And so it was kind of-

I didn't think anybody could do that. Nobody can afford to live alone in LA. I mean, spoiler alert, I have a roommate now. Okay. But, and that was my plan. And I think it was a culmination of those like big life choices where it was already like, I'm going to move halfway across the country already.

You know, like almost wanted to kind of prepare. It was like, okay, and I'm going to travel. So it wasn't that you were moving to LA and then you just severely overshot it and ended up in Japan for two weeks. Well, because I also realized if I was going to buy, excuse me, if I was going to buy, excuse me, if I was going to buy plane tickets to LA to find an apartment anyway, I could actually save money on a ticket

technically if I flew to Japan, stayed in Japan for two weeks, then flew from Tokyo to LA, stayed in LA for a week to find my apartment, and then flew back to Milwaukee to then drive back to LA to move. So it was like all part of a round trip with a long delay, a long layover? Yeah, exactly. Which explains why you had more money you didn't know about because you got this financial thing figured out.

I know, exactly. I was like, oh, technically I'm safe. Like that was the excuse I tried to. What is that why you chose Japan because it worked out in the LA route? Or was there something specific about Japan that you'd always wanted to experience? I, for a good portion of my life,

have always been interested in Japan. I would say probably the seed of that kind of goes to my childhood of Pokemon and getting into anime. So that was definitely a very good gateway into Japan and learning about Japan. So it was kind of just over time from that, since I was like nine,

of learning more and more about Japan outside of even just pop culture that I just got more and more interested in it. And I did start with the basic thing of like, I want to travel outside of the country alone. Where do I want to go to do that for the first time? And I literally, I think I did open up Google Maps and then just I looked at the map of the world.

I zoomed all the way out and I was just like, where do I want to go? And like I- You did a POV satellite. I didn't do- Like wish list. Basically, I didn't do Google Earth, I didn't get up too far.

You didn't become an astronaut for this decision making process. But yeah, I looked at the map. This is a mythical thing to do. It really is, yeah. You opened Google Maps and just zoomed out as far as it would go. I've never done that.

You threw a dart. With something I absolutely love to would go. I've never done that. You threw a dart. Well something I absolutely love to do and I've never taken action on this is, I mean anybody who's ever had a globe has done their thing where you spin the globe and like, I'm gonna close my eyes and then I'm gonna put my finger on the globe and wherever I land, I'm gonna go. Water.

I'm going in the ocean a lot. But the idea that you did it with an intention to follow through. And it was about, I mean, even the whole process was, well it was about the process, it was about the journey, not the destination, because you didn't have it yet. You were like, I'm gonna go somewhere, I'm gonna go alone, I know how I'm gonna do something

but I don't yet know what it is. Which is actually another chapter we talk about in the book. You probably don't even read it. We gotta quit selling. Bookofmythicality.com. You gotta quit selling this book, man. Just read the book, just read the book. But it is very mythical and it's, you know,

so you zoomed out and you saw Japan. And I did a general scan and honestly, I think one of the first things that popped out to me was Japan and it was kind of one of those things where almost first idea, best idea, where it was just like, I couldn't get out of my head. Like I kept on looking around, kept on hemming and hawing. Like I almost tried to think about like continents too, where I was like, okay, well nowhere in North America or even South America, because that's basically part of North America. So like, let's go for it. Let's go for it. And then I had actually been outside the country before,

again, on another family trip with my dad where we went to Ireland. So then I kind of canceled. I was like, okay, then no Europe. Like, where have I, like, farthest away I've been. Been there, done that continent. And I think, yeah, all signs just pointed to Japan. And it made me immediately excited,

and that's really just how I knew. And then when you, so you timed it with moving to LA, and then, but when you got there, did you have a dad-like itinerary? And more importantly, I'm curious, how much did you talk? Because the way that I think about like solo trips is that they're like silent retreats where you find yourself not talking to anyone

except when making like some sort of exchange. Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, that's one of the first questions a lot of people ask, especially depending on where you're going. And so far, I would say Iceland and Japan have in common where it's pretty easy to travel when you're only an English speaker. In Iceland, actually even easier than Japan, probably. But for the most part, like a lot of major signs are in, are in, what do you imagine when you imagine Japanese and the Japanese characters,

but then there's also Roman letters basically. So phonetically written out the Japanese words and so you can actually read it. But not necessarily English? What do you mean Roman letters but not English? So Roman letters like A, B, C, D, E, F, G, E, F, G. It's not an English word, what? But you could say it. That's why I say Roman letters but not English. So Roman letters like A, B, C, D, E, F, G. It's not an English word. What?

But you could say it. That's why I say Roman letters. You could pronounce it. You could pronounce it by phonetically. And then somebody would know what you were talking about. Oh. It's like using English to tell you how to speak Japanese. But for most words, that works.

However, the neighborhood where I stayed the first night did not apply to that rule. So this is probably a good example. So literally I landed Japan, it's over, I can't even remember anymore, but it was like a 12 to 14 hour flight. I landed in Japan and I did have a plan for the most part. Like I did try to be really prepared. I booked ahead of time where I was staying, where I stayed in hostels, which is, you know, the affordable way to travel on a budget. Which means you share restrooms with strangers and sometimes you share cots with strangers.

Usually it's not cots. It's maybe like a bunk bed scenario, but usually you keep to your own bunk. Unless, you know. I Movies you've been watching. Yeah. If anything, it's maybe there's some consensual sharing, but other than that, it's, you know, you get assigned. Get your own bed, man. Let's consider it. Yeah, basically you're kind of in like.

That doesn't sound hostile at all. You're basically in like larger size dorm rooms that usually are at least like six bunk beds. And then, yeah, it's like a communal bathroom with a bunch of sinks, a bunch of showers. Okay. So I knew. But you were phonetically sounding out signs

and it didn't work out? Yeah, so the neighborhood and also like the name of my hostel had the name of the neighborhood, which was, I'll just say what it was spelled. So it was A-S-A-K-U-S-A. How would you pronounce that? A-S-A-K-U-S-A. So I pronounced it and thought it was pronounced

like how Rhett just said it, Asakusa. Because I was just looking at it phonetically and I had actually been trying to learn some basic Japanese like, hello, excuse me. That's my bunk, not yours. i didn't think to do that one i didn't get that far um we're in my bunk where i thought with me where i thought like i could pronounce if i saw a word i'd be able to read and relatively pronounce it correctly i thought

but you know i got gotten from the airport to one of the main train stations in Japan, I'm sorry, in Tokyo. And so, but it's a big train station. And it's one of those things where there's a bunch of turnstiles in different parts of the building. And I'm not sure how to get to the next train to take me to my hostel. So are you using, I mean this is 2014, right? This is 2014.

So I have a smartphone. Right, so one of the things that we noticed in our recent trip to New York is that we haven't really been to New York and navigated on our own in a number of years. Like we've been going for work and it's like you're in a car and somebody else is worrying about where you're gonna be.

But the last time I actually went to New York and navigated the subway system and all that was 99, right? By printed map, not by Google app. And you had the map in your pocket, but now with the smartphone it was like, I wasn't thinking about anything. So how does that translate to Tokyo? Well, and that's the thing again,

where at times, especially in these scenarios, like it feels like a cheat code where a lot of problems can easily be answered by the smartphone and Google maps is really great. Like it translates everything. So like it shows everything in the English for, in the English version. Um, but it's smart cause it hooks up to the public transit system, just like in New York city, you know, it shows the name of lines, does like colored icons to show you like the different lines and whatnot. But it's still, you know, I think it's still like this where it doesn't say breakdown of like, Oh, there's multiple floors to this station.

And here's how you get to that line. You know, all, you know, all I knew was I was in the right building, but I didn't know where the hell in the building to go. Where is Asakusa? Yeah. And so I went to one of the help desks and I still was speaking English because like everyone at those help desks and like, especially anyone of like authority

that you really need to talk to, most likely at least knows a little bit of English, if not is pretty fluent. And it was funny because immediately the second I said it, like they looked at me like I was crazy. And so all of a sudden I just knew I was second guessing everything I had done where I was like, did I write down wrong? Am I actually like, what did I, what did I do wrong? Until finally the person that was helping me, like,

like realize I was like, Oh, Asakusa. Asakusa. Asakusa. I was like, yes. And then like,

explain to me of like, Oh, you have to go through multiple turnstiles where I thought like I would be like double charged um to go through that I was like afraid to leave but I had to go through a couple turnstiles to then go down to another floor to get on the train I had to get to finally got to my hostel after I think it had been like a full 20 hours like from like Houston airport to Tokyo like to my actual hostel was like maybe almost like 20 hours. And I was just like spent, but then I walk in and you know, it's maybe, I think it's

almost like 11, it was almost 11 or like midnight, but there's someone behind the desk and like, they check me in and they immediately ask like, oh, do you want some tea? And they literally give me like a nice like cup of like iced green tea. And I take a sip and I immediately ask like, oh, do you want some tea? And they literally give me like a nice cup of like iced green tea and I take a sip and I swear to you it was one of the best green teas I've ever had. And like everything immediately, like all the stress of like travel,

I like melted away and got that confidence boost. You'll never have a green tea that good again. Yeah, and then almost immediately went to my room and passed out. Now were the people. But was Asakusa, did that actually mean something nasty? Yeah, that's the moral of the story. That's what I thought was gonna happen.

I still haven't figured out how to do that. What kind of people are in these hostels? Are we talking mostly Westerners that are traveling around? That is a good chunk. I would say in Japan there were a fair amount of people from China or Taiwan too. Okay. But I would say it's predominantly Westerners, whether it's the U.S. or Canada or, you know, U.K., parts of Europe.

Mm-hmm. And other people by themselves too. I'm trying to think if I actually met, yeah I did meet a couple people who were traveling. Okay but lots of people traveling together. Now but my question about talking to people was not actually about the language barrier, it was about literally socially connecting with people.

I mean do you consider yourself an introvert, extrovert? Where are you on the scale? I mean, if you're in a hostile situation, are you like talking to people and making friends? Or is your goal to kind of be a monk? Like with a vow of silence, and you're like experiencing Japan on mute? I really took it day to day.

And I think that goes again to the idea of like, because I'm traveling alone, I can do whatever I want, talk to whoever I want, not talk to whoever I want. Are you an introvert or extrovert? What would you say? And I think that definitely leans more towards introvert if I like really had to choose between the two. And I think that's what's nice is at least like, if you know, if I like really had to choose between the two. And I think that's what's nice is at least like, if you know, if I feel comfortable enough, then you know, I can be more extroverted. But I think that's what was nice about the hostels

where you can usually kind of tell by, you know, the second you walk into your dorm and say someone's already there, whether or not they're in the mood to talk or chat, you know, just by how, whether or not they even say hello to you, or it's just like a head nod. Kind of like when I sit down in a hairstylist chair

and I immediately just close my eyes. You're like, that's the cue that I do not want to interact with you right now. I think that's actually probably the best analogy is it's when you go into a new barber, especially. Within the first two seconds, you both agree whether or not you're gonna have a conversation. So I do this weird thing where I talk to him

for like seven minutes and then the eyes close. So I talk to him, I have the friendlies and I'm like. That's all I got, that's all I want. Next time I gotta try just closing my eyes and see what happens. So do you have like a, I'm trying to picture you, you have like a backpack on. He's right there.

And like what is your outfit? You got like a track suit, you got travel clothes. Yeah, I'm definitely picturing you in a track suit. Well you would have to picture me without facial hair because this is before facial hair. Okay, got it. But I packed relatively light, I did. You couldn't grow facial hair, because this is before facial hair. Okay, got it. But I packed relatively light. You couldn't grow facial hair three years ago?

Well, at the end of the trip, I did. I'm trying to think, like I packed like pants, one pair of shorts, and maybe, I think at most I did like maybe like five shirts, but it was like meant to be like layers, like a couple of T-shirts, and I got like maybe like five shirts, but it was like meant to be like layers, like a couple of t-shirts. And I did, and I got one shirt from REI,

which was like- One of those breathable ones. One of those breathable ones. But like at like first glance, you wouldn't think of like, oh, that's like one of those like squishy, soundy material like things. Like it looks like a normal collared shirt

for the most part. Oh, I know what you mean. But it's got those cool like side roll-ups. Vents. Yeah. Oh, you know what you mean. But it's got those cool like side roll-ups. Vents. Oh, you're talking about like a fly fisherman shirt. You were dressed, you wore a fly. No, man, this is like a legit camping shirt, man. I would never go to REI.

Like it's like a cool hiking, it looks like, it's like I've almost gotten one like 700 times. I feel too guilty for never hiking or doing anything REI-ish. I still continue to wear this shirt like around when I'm not traveling outside the country. Oh I've seen it and I didn't even notice. Exactly.

Okay, all right. And what about the pants, do you have zip-offs? No, I didn't go that far. I had one pair of shorts and one pair of jeans. Okay, but you can get one pair that's both of them. Yeah and I was trying. At REI. Zip-off at the knees?

Yeah man, I want some of those too. I wore those in Buddy System season one. I think I still got them around here but I don't do stuff that needs it. The last time I wore like zip off pants was like, I was like 10 years old. They're glorious man. I don't know if I can go back.

You feel like you can jump off of stuff. They are versatile, I don't know if they're glorious. Okay so you're dressed, you're pretty legit. You dress pretty legit, not a lot of clothes. Yeah. So like what's, like a typical day? Typical day. Again, I think how I planned my trip

was not so much of an itinerary of like, oh, I have to be here at noon because I have to be at this place at 4 p.m. right on the dot. Like I treated it more as like I made a list of just like top things. Let's see if I can do these things today. And like in just order of importance, we're like, I absolutely want to do this one thing today.

I want to make sure I do that. But then a couple other ideas. And then just structure the day out that way. So I think the first day I went to Akihabara, which is like a neighborhood that's just very well known for its like video game stores and video arcades. So it's like classic of like what you kind of imagine with Tokyo, which is like super tall buildings

and like tons of people on the sidewalk crossing streets, just like people everywhere. Entertainment overload. Yeah. So I went there first and, you know, walked around, went to stores, went into an arcade, played some games. It was kind of hard to play the games because, again, not a lot of English in the actual games, but I was able to like put money in, hit start and play and know that I lost. Which is the point. Exactly.

that I lost, so. Which is the point. Exactly. Yeah, I did that and like wandered, and purposely like wandered around because that's like a thing that I really love about traveling and being in a new place is like putting that time in to wander and to like explore and just find.

Just walk around and find yourself somewhere. Yeah, exactly. What was the best Japanese experience and the worst? Like, was there a worst thing? Like, did you get mugged? And what was the best thing? Did you, like, get married? I'll have to think on the worst thing

because it might be just, like, the first experience of, like, trying to find my hostel that first time. Oh, that's great if you don't have one. Best, that's really hard to say. It's a combo of a lot of things. I think the number thing i always talk about with japan is definitely the food yeah um god i like i i was going through my photos everywhere or one place like just the everywhere everywhere like i was going through my photos to prepare for this to you know refresh my memory and i have so many photos of just like food in my hand because i was like while i was eating i was like i want to remember this

now are you a naturally adventurous eater i have as i've grown as i've gotten older because you can't go you can't go to the gym and be like i don't like fish man i know i'm not really into fish i don't do fish um yeah and i already like really like japanese food in general but i think one of the things that stuck out to me was um i finally googled it to figure out what was actually called because i couldn't remember i i walked up to this stall that was outside of this temple near my hostel and they had these fried these things these fried crispy things that had delicious filling in them and like that's what they were in my head the entire time until I finally figured out what they were called.

They're called akumanju, which is basically like steamed buns, if you've had those before, which is, you know, a bread with, you know, round roll size with like, you know, smooth, sweet fillings in it or different savory fillings. But then it was dipped in tempura batter and fried. Sounds like the NC State Fair. That was my breakfast almost, like my entire first week in Tokyo,

was like I would go to that stall and I got like a bunch of different flavors, like they had green tea flavored, or like they even flavored the breading too, like the tempura batter was like matcha flavored along with the filling inside. Like and they had like sweet potato flavor, like yam flavor, they had like black sesame flavored.

That's one of the things I remember the most of all, like I got that a bunch. When, so you were there for two weeks. I was there two weeks. The closest I have to like a solo adventure is one summer, I think you were, this was in college, I went to Nashville to visit our friend Josh. I think you were in Slovakia that summer.

And I was taking summer classes. And I took one week and I went to Nashville to visit him, but he was working. So every day during the week, he gave me his car and I just, so for that eight hours he was working, I was just going around Nashville all alone. And it was the first time that, maybe the only time that I've had

like that much time to myself. And I was really excited at first. And I went to the country music hall of fame. Oh yeah, who's not excited? And I walked around like slow pace, like no one's rushing me anywhere. Like reading all the plaques. I read, I can read every plaque.

And then after a while it's like. That's Patty Loveless's boots. I don't need to read every plaque. I'm reading about Patty Loveless's boots right now. I'm not a Patty Loveless fan. Just the third pair of Patty Loveless boots that I've checked out since I've been here. I went outside and I had a pack with some water in it,

of course. Gotta stay hydrated. And I remember I would, I sat outside of the museum and then a few minutes later I laid down and then I went to sleep. Like on a bench? In the museum? No, outside.

Okay. I will call it a park. Okay. Like trees outside of the museum. I took a nap. Like on a guitar bench? And then I got up and I'm like walking around and driving around and then the next day,

you know I hang out with Josh at night, the next day I go into town to Nashville and I'm like on Music Row. I'm like I've heard about Music Row where all the Nashville sound was made. I'm gonna take my water down to Music Row and just drink. Yeah, so here I am,

drinking water, walking down Music Row and I found a little park to sit down for a few minutes and then I laid down. There's lots of sleeping. I went to sleep. I realized that I was becoming a homeless person in Nashville. The third day.

That's how it begins. If you don't have a return trip plan. If I don't have an itinerary, I just start sleeping in public places. By the fifth day, the last day that Josh was at work, he had a pool at his house. I'm just gonna stay here at the pool. I'm gonna stay here and sleep.

There's water and a place to sleep. I got on a float in the middle of the pool and I fell asleep. I woke up with the worst sunburn you could ever imagine. You deserve every bit of it, man. What a jerk. You know, it's like here I am, I can explore this whole city,

and it's like, well, I gotta, ooh, I'm tuckered out. I gotta go to the pool and float. I'm tuckered out. I got so burnt. The next day we went hiking, and it was like, my collarbones were so burnt that I couldn't swing my arms because it would hurt.

And I was absolutely bonafide miserable. You didn't know what to do. With myself. But it was a different time. Because that same summer, I was in Slovakia, and most of, I was over there with a lot of college students and our itinerary was pretty much figured out with what we were doing, right?

But it's funny, I haven't even thought about this until right now and now that we're talking about it in this context. But one of the, You fell asleep a lot? Fell asleep in a pool. We would have some days that we didn't have any responsibilities and we were like teaching English at these, for Slovaks.

And when we didn't have to do that, you could do whatever you wanted to. And my inclination was, I mean, sometimes it would be like, oh, there's a couple of people that I've kinda gotten to know a little bit better and I'll go do something with them, but my disposition was almost it would be like, oh there's a couple of people that I've kinda gotten to know a little bit better and I'll go do something with them but my disposition was almost always to be like, I'm just going to go off on myself today. Today's a free day and I would just walk like the city.

So being like Kosice, Slovakia and I would just walk around. Did you ever lay down and sleep? Never. When did you sleep? Never, no. When did you sleep? You're a human. Like I can't sleep in, I can't barely sleep in a bed, man. I'm just wondering, can I clarify,

you keep on saying sleep, do you mean just sleep in a determined amount or like nap, like getting a quick 15? It would easily be 45 minutes. Wow, okay. Like if a nap's worth taking, it's worth taking. I'd take it all the way. But the inclination to just go off and be,

but I still, I mean I was just kinda walking around. I wasn't in Tokyo, that's for sure. You sent me a postcard from there and it was two polar bears mating. Oh yeah, because they do that, that's how they mate little polar bears. I wanted you to understand how, what I was learning.

I hope you just thought it was funny. It was, wasn't it? You remember it. It was funny. You remember it to this day. Would you? It was funny. Would it be better if they were sleeping? Yeah, well they sleep after. Well they sleep, yeah I was like,

those polar bears sleep in a weird position. Then I turned over and Rhett was like, dear Link, let me tell you how little polar bears are made. Flip over, pull us over. So, that was, so three years later, you take a solo trip to Iceland. So was there a solo trip in between there or was it? No.

We've been working you so hard. Yeah and. You haven't been able to get away? Well, yeah, so after three years after what I would say is one of the best trips I've ever taken, and it was alone, I always kind of told my head, oh, I want to work hard enough to get to the point where I can be able to do another trip like this.

And I had gotten to that point where I had decided, okay, this summer, while GMM is on hiatus, I'm gonna do another trip. A solo trip specifically. Yeah, another solo trip. You knew I'm saving up for a solo. Yeah and what was it, not specifically about Japan, but the solo aspect.

Was it like, I mean obviously, you know, and also, you know, three years later, three years older, life changes, you change as a person. Was there this, because so many things would have to be like worked out in my life personally for me to take a solo trip. Like, you know, it's like, that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Yeah. But it would be like, this is going to be some sort of deeply contemplative experience if I were to do this. So having done it once, did you approach it differently and it was like, the purpose of it? Well yeah, because I had played with this idea of this trip

which what I thought was say not the most planned out trip, not like the most like hard itinerary trip that I felt like, I felt again, like, Oh, maybe I want to play with this more and like leave, have even have to be more open and more free to like have time to do what I, do what I want,

do whatever. And, um, and because, and because like I did really enjoy the experience of traveling alone because it goes back into all those things of control. Like I did whatever I wanted, ate whatever I want, you know. And I think that was that same idea where like

and there's no necessarily worries about like what's going on back home or whatever or anything like that. It's about being present for a specific amount of time. And so, yeah, I wanted to do that again. And I knew I wanted to do another international trip. I mean, I'll be honest, like, it's really hard for me to just not go back to Japan. Like every time I think about doing a trip, I was like, I could just go back to Japan. And like, cause I still barely saw, like, I don't know, like, I saw a small percentage of the country. Like, I stayed in Tokyo for one week and Kyoto for another week and did kind of day trips, taking the train a little bit outside those areas. But for the most part, I was in central Japan.

Like, I didn't see any of, like, the south or the north. And so, like, there's plenty more that I could have seen. And, like, I'm kind of still trying to force myself like no, part of it too is to also experience something new every time, like if I'm taking that time out, I want to do that opportunity to do something new. And so part of why I then picked Iceland was because usually I realized like when I think about traveling

like I always think more about cities and stuff. Like I'm always first to think of like, ah, it'd be really cool to go to Hong Kong. It'd be cool to go to Berlin. Like I don't think like, oh, it'd be cool to go to China. It'd be cool to go to Germany. I think more like in city terms. So I realized like Iceland would be a good opportunity to once again push me out of my comfort zone of like,

oh, this is a trip where you're not, it's kind of weird to like stay in Reykjavik for a week and not go outside the city limits of Reykjavik, which is a pretty small city when like there's so much like just nature to see in Iceland. I think that's probably the biggest number one attractive thing for that country is the beautiful like natural splendor. But it's a stark contrast to the populous of Tokyo. Yes. So was that another factor was now I'm going solo to somewhere where I could actually stay solo.

Yeah, like where I could literally be at the edge of like a waterfall and just be. The only one. Yeah, which I had imagined in my head and thought was a possibility. Once I got there, a little less likely because tourism in Iceland in the last five years, especially has just like exploded. It's a population of maybe 300,000 and now they see about 2 million tourists a year. Okay. Wow. Which is insane. Because it's become very popular for, I think a lot of reasons,

I think partially because it's so beautiful. What about that Ben Stiller movie? Ben Stiller movie? What was that movie? He skateboarded, Walter Mitty? Walter Mitty skateboarded across Iceland. Weirdly, I think I did see that, that movie came out around the time

that I went to go to Japan, actually. Oh, yeah. I'm thinking about it. And also Game of Thrones, I think, is also like they film a lot of locations there. But, yeah, the main attractive thing to me was like, okay, this trip forces me to go outside my comfort zone and go out into nature. And so I planned out my trip where I got tickets and I rented a car and I drove around, say, like a third or like half of the country in a week.

In one week? In one week. And were there hostels? What was the main thing you were doing? Seeing sites, hiking, just trying to survive in the icy depths of, I don't know. All of the above. I mainly stayed in hostels, and one night I stayed at an Airbnb. I thought I was going to do a decent amount of hiking,

but kind of how my trip went, uh, canceled that fact. Um, for whatever reason, my first 24 hours in a country, like really say a lot about the trip. So I landed in Iceland and stayed in Reykjavik that night. I got, I kind of, you know, wandered around the city for the most part that night. And then the next morning I was driving probably the longest distance, almost like three or four hours to my Airbnb that I was staying at that night. And I was maybe the next, so my second day, I was maybe barely 20 minutes outside of Reykjavik. And I, and kind of how Iceland is laid out, there's what's called the ring road, which

is basically only like two lanes, but it goes around the entire Island and it, but it's not like normal, like American highways where, you know, you know, there's maybe some curves, but you know, stuff can be straight. It's all like windy and curvy. And, but then there's just beautiful things that like every turn you make. And I pulled over cause I'd seen, I saw a beautiful mountain and I was like, ah, I got to take a photo in front of this. And I pulled over because I saw a beautiful mountain and I was like, oh, I got to take a photo in front of this. And I pulled over to the side of the road and I did a very touristy thing where I was trying to take a photo of myself

and I fell into a ditch. You were taking a selfie. Basically, yeah. Like a big ditch. Like a big enough ditch.. A big enough ditch where. Was this a fjord? I don't think that's good. Technically not. I don't think that's there.

No, oh no, there's fjords. There are fjords? Oh yeah. There's plenty of fjords. Oh. Yeah, that's right, Rhett. Where I thought. It's also greener than Greenland, so take a bite out of that one. I do know that.

It was very green. But I fell into this very green ditch. How deep was this ditch and what happened? It was at least four feet, maybe five feet. Oh my goodness. Was there ice in the bottom? No. What happened?

Did you die? So I hurt my ankle. Like where I got out, I climbed out of the ditch. I'm sorry, I'm laughing at you. I laughed at myself. So I got out and like it was painful getting out, both to my pride and my ankle. And so I'm standing up and I'm out of the ditch. And I realized when I put weight on my ankle, it hurts. So I'm like, oh crap.

I mean, I'll just get in the car. I'm getting in the car and sitting, I can put some weight off it, it'll probably be fine. I get back in the car and I start driving but then as I'm sitting with no weight on my foot, it starts to hurt. And like every mile I'm driving, it just hurts more and

more and more. Is the gas foot? No. Luckily it's my left foot. And I kept trying to like pull over because there's a lot of spots, especially along the ring road to pull over and take photos of just beautiful landscapes. Like it's not like rest areas in America where like, oh, there's bathrooms and picnic tables and stuff. For the most part, most of them are like maybe a miniature parking lot that can fit like five, five-ish cars and maybe a picnic bench and maybe a sign explaining that area. But other than that, that's it. And like, there were so many with so many many beautiful spots and like, I slowly had to just keep on driving past all of them because I got to the point where I was like,

I need ice. I'm in Iceland. My ankle hurts. I need ice. I need ice in the land of ice. My ankle hurts and I need ice. Wish I was in Greenland. So I pulled out my phone. I pulled over, pulled out my phone.

Geography humor. And I tried to find like the nearest, what seemed like, okay, this is a big gas station. They should have everything I could possibly need, you know, whether it's, you know, bandage wrap or something or just aspirin something. So I pull over and I get out of the car for the first time in like maybe two hours and i'm immediately limping limping like you swallow man and i and i looked i looked at my ankle for the first time too with like my sock off and my ankle had like swollen up and i literally like hobbled into this gas station and immediately realized the biggest irony of Iceland. It's really hard to get ice in Iceland.

There's no ice in the convenience store? There was no ice. Like they had every possible like bottle drink and stuff, but there was no ice, no ice packs, no nothing. It was still like a convenience store where they had other stuff like car fresheners and stuff like that. But their like medical medicine aisle was basically toothbrushes, toothpaste, and feminine hygiene products.

Like that was it. You could freeze that. What did you use? What did you do? Does the clerk speak English? They do, they do. Okay. And I asked like, do you have ice packs?

And it was a bit of a surly Icelandic teenager who was like, oh, no, sorry. And so I bought a water bottle and left. Immediately started Googling pharmacies. Found a pharmacy. Drove to a pharmacy. And it was what I thought it was like Iceland's main chain of pharmacies. They're equivalent of like, say, Walgreens. And I walk in and it's laid out like what I would call more of like an old-timey pharmacy

where every single pill is behind the counter. Like every pill. Oh, wow. But where's the ice? And I talked to the actual pharmacist in a white coat. And I thought I was being so smart. I was like, I'm not going to say Tylenol, not going to say Advil, no brand names, aspirin.

Aspirin has to be like a universal one. And I said like, I need aspirin. And again, very similar to the person in the train station in Japan where he looked at me like I was crazy. Like, why could I possibly need aspirin? Even though I limped into this pharmacy, maybe she thought I needed something better than aspirin. But finally she said like, oh,

aspirin? Okay. And pulled up a bottle and I bought a bottle of Icelandic aspirin. That was all like, all the directions were in Icelandic, not English. But I was able to at least figure out like, okay, I have to take this many or like, I can't max this many in a day. Finally take some, get back in my car, get to my Airbnb, um, where I was renting a room, uh, in this woman's house. And so I pull up, she's out front and I limp out of my car and explain like, hurt my ankle, fell in a ditch. Do you have ice? She didn't have ice. She didn't have ice.

Where do you think you are? I don't know where I thought I was, but she did not have ice. Luckily, the bar nearby her house had ice. She went to go get me ice. And I got set up in my room in her house. I put my foot up with a bag of ice and about six Icelandic aspirin in my stomach and then just chilled out for the rest of the day.

And I remember thinking like, I really hope I don't have to actually go to the hospital. I didn't think I broke it. I really thought it would hurt more immediately if I broke it, but it was still like unbearable pain where like, if I, I knew like I couldn't walk more than like a couple of feet. Um, that was a great start. So that was the start of my trip. That was like within the first like 48 hours of my trip. And, but then I got up the next morning and my ankle felt immediately better.

Oh, wow. Where I could put weight on it. I could actually ascend the stairs to get to the only bathroom in the house on my feet

instead of going up step by step on my butt, which is what I had done the night before. Oh, wow. Who's this weird American? Yeah, yeah.

That's not how we go up the stairs. Yeah. But my host, Madara, like, Who's this weird American? Yeah, yeah. That's not how we go up the stairs. Yeah. But my host, Madara, like God bless her, she had breakfast out for me the next morning with like bunch of different jams and cheeses and stuff and like she made me tea. Once again, like I think the best way I know

like someone's a good tourist experience is when someone else makes you tea in another country. I don't know what it is about it. So then you were able to go from there and see a lot of Iceland, which I'm sure was breathtaking. Yeah, and I got a lot of advice from my host about what to do and what to see,

and the rest of the trip just got better and better. My ankle got better and better, and the trip got better and better. I think for these solo trips, I mean, what was your expectation and then what was your takeaway in terms of, was there kind of a goal of either, was it just rest?

Was there like an aspect of introspection to this? I mean, so as a person, did you come away as a better person? Or what's the takeaway? Well, yeah, I think that's why these two trips kind of go hand in hand and that with Japan, part of what I went into it

was hoping that it would help prove to me too that like not only, okay, if I can go to this foreign country for two weeks alone I can move across the country and live in Los Angeles alone was kind of the idea I kind of had in the back of my head and I came out of it feeling that confidence like it was kind of a bit of a confidence boost that like okay I was able to navigate this country I can navigate this city and then when I went to Iceland it made think like, well, oh, I've

already got this one trip under my belt. I can do this alone too. And I would say like, while I loved my trip in Iceland, I think if I go back to Iceland, I will definitely have a co-pilot. Oh, really? Yes. Yes, absolutely. Because not just in scenarios where you say sprain your ankle and you still have to drive yourself across the country, but it was, but there was like a lot more times where, especially because it's, a lot of it is so road trip focused. Like there were just times where I was like, man, I really just want to stare out the window right now. And I can't, I didn't have the control I

wanted where like, I had to focus on driving. Like I couldn't choose between the two where Where I think especially with like the different types of things you're doing in Iceland, like it makes sense to like have some form of co-pilots. Also, I saw a lot of couples in Iceland. And it like hammered home way more than in Japan. Like I saw everybody's with somebody in Iceland. Okay. So there's a, is there an opening? Are you saying there's an, is there an opening?

Are you saying there's an opening for a companion to go back to Iceland with you? Is that what this is turning into? Maybe. Guys, I have to be honest with you, there's a reason why I came out here today. But I mean, even those things being said, I mean, there's, was it an enriching experience? Absolutely.

When you look at the two of them together and you say okay this is about me figuring out who I am and what I'm capable of and like if I find myself in a ditch am I gonna be able to get out of it? Yeah. Metaphorically speaking of course. Of course.

Yeah that doesn't actually happen. Yeah. You know. I'm on a ditch. Would you recommend solo adventuring in general in terms of like the building blocks of a person? Yes, but that can be, solo adventuring can be anywhere though.

I don't think it's a caveat where like, oh, everyone has to travel outside the country because not everyone has that ability or that privilege to be able to do that. But I think for the most part, most adults have the ability to do something alone and do an adventure alone. And I absolutely recommend it for anybody.

It's not easy to do, man. I mean, even the, like I said, there's no like Iceland or Japan trip in my near future alone, but like I've told the story before and I tell the story in detail with pictures in the book of Book of Mythicality about my intention to go off to Joshua Tree by myself for just a weekend.

And it's like, it's, in kind of what I end up talking about in the book is how with all my intention to be like, I know I don't get to do this very often, I've got a weekend alone, I'm going to set some goals for myself, I wanna come away with some sort of like epiphany about something because I've got this time

to myself and then I basically just ended up taking a shirtless selfie of myself and posting it on Instagram. That's what that trip amounted to. I didn't sprain my ankle but I took a half naked selfie because I didn't go in with the right intentions. But you got a good story in a book. I did, but I've actually thought about, it's funny because I don't know if I've been on edge lately

or whatever, but Jessie the other day was like, I really feel like you might need to go away for a weekend by yourself again. I think, we've just been working. No comment. We've been working so hard, she was like, I think, you know, we've just been working. No comment. We've been working so hard, she was like, I think you could probably use that, you can use that again, but I don't have any specific plans

to do that, but I'm like, if I do it again, I have to go in with more intention, like I'm not gonna be on the internet. I'm gonna take my phone because I might need my phone for navigation purposes, but like I'm not gonna be on the internet. I'm gonna take my phone because I might need my phone for navigation purposes. But I'm not gonna be on social media, I'm not gonna be taking naked pictures of myself. I might do that but I'll keep it to myself,

it'll be for me. It won't be for the internet. Good. But it's certainly, I appreciate your sharing experience with us because it convinces us even more of what a mythical idea it is to do that. I think I will always remember the imagery

of you pulling up the Google map and then deciding, all right, I've decided to do something in spite of fears, questions, preconceived notions, and now it's just a question of, okay, what are the specifics? Because I know it's gonna happen. That's certainly very mythical, so we applaud you, sir. And we're glad to have you here

as part of the mythical team. Yes, and here's to you, Mythical Beast, who are bringing up Google Maps right now, looking at all that ocean, finding the islands and the continents and the cities that you might point to. Point at one of those and then go stay in a hostel there, but learn to correctly pronounce the name

of the place you're gonna stay the first night and bring an ankle brace and some ice. I'm gonna go take a nap.