Endless Thread - Mission Improbable

Episode Date: April 12, 2018

What do you do when you're about to fly home from Japan and you realize you've left your passport in your hotel 300 miles away? Or when you're looking for pals to run with you from England to Italy? Post to Reddit, of course.

Support for endless thread comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink Software, to design and develop engineered systems, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com. Support for WBUR comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Marotra Institute at Boston University that explores questions like, why is innovation in healthcare so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? of course, is business broken? Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the I-Lab at WBUR, Boston. Amory. Yes. I want you to meet Susan, who I just met the other day. Hey, Susan. How are you? Hey, Ben. I'm good. How are you? Good. Thanks for being willing to do this with us. You're welcome. Susan went by herself to Japan for a two-week vacation. Two weeks. Very nice. Where'd she go in Japan? She sort of bounced around a bit.

Yeah, so the main places I went to were Tokyo and Kyoto, and I took a few day trips too and spent one night in this place called Hokone, where there's hot springs. And then just a few days ago, right when she was preparing to leave, something happened. Can you tell me about the moment that you realized you were in trouble? So I was wrapping up my trip. It was the morning of the day of my flight,

and I was going through everything and just trying to. trying to organize myself. And I slowly began to realize that my passport was not in my bag. So I was trying to not panic immediately, but eventually I went through everything and it just wasn't there. So I really, I panicked. I was like, holy crap, what do I do? Yes, Susan did the one thing you are never supposed to do while traveling abroad. She lost her passport.

Amory, what anxiety threat level does this put you at? Like a code read, like 11 out of 10. I thought maybe. This is not something you would take in stride necessarily. Maybe not something anyone should take in stride, including Susan. I had no idea where it was, and I realized that really my only option at that point was to call the embassy and see if there was any way I could make my flight without my passport because I had no idea how to track it down. Hello, US Embassy Tokyo.

They actually picked up right away and they were really nice, but they said there's nothing they could do until Monday since it was a Saturday and that's when they opened. They said it happens all the time. Did you have to be a work on Monday? Yes, I did, which was another reason why I was panicking because I'd already taken two weeks off and I really needed to be there. This is probably a good time to say that Susan works for a human rights organization. Specifically, she deals with issues like child labor, juvenile justice, and refugee children. So, yeah, not the type of job you'd want to miss a few days for because you're stuck on vacation. And then just to find out the day that I'm leaving that I don't have my passport, I just felt incredibly defeated and really

at a loss for what to do next. This is about the time that Susan takes a total shot in the dark. She posts to Reddit. I think the last time I posted is because one of my plants was dying, and I took a picture of it and posted it to the succulent community to ask them what they thought I should do, and then everyone resoundingly said you need to water it more, but I always thought succulents needed to be watered very rarely. So they were really helpful. the plant still died, but that's one reason why I posted. Susan's post about her passport leads to a down-to-the-minute race through Japan to get herself on that plane. A mission she tackles with the help of an unassuming hero, Vince.

You're sitting at a Starbucks hanging out with a Shiba Inu? This is very internet-y already. Yeah, well, I'm a big Shiba fan. A friend of mine has two of them. Shiba Inu, as in that dog that is insanely popular in Japan and on the internet, where the Shiba is, of course, known as Doge. Such doge. Even on vacation, you know, you get into routines, you know, have coffee, browse the internet.

You know, that's how I start my morning. Ben, this sounds like the start of a rom-com. Or the start of a terrifying lifetime movie. And yes, there is a rendezvous. Because before Susan can get back to saving the world at her job in New York City, Vince must go on an epic adventure. Yeah, we're about to tell you about two international missions. One is a race against time and train schedules and plane schedules.

Another is a race against self-doubt. Let's call this one Mission Improbable. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. All right, all right. We got our own theme music. I'm Ben Brock Johnson and this is Endless Thread. I am here with my producer and co-host Amory Sievertson, bringing you stories found in the vast ecosystem of online communities called Reddit.

One does not simply walk into our show without saying how it's made. We're coming to you from WBUR, Boston's NPR station. Okay, Amory, I want to ask you about the key details of this lost passport in Japan story that we have so far. Okay, Susan has lost her passport. Check. It's a Saturday. She calls the embassy. Yeah.

No one can help her till Monday, and she's got to get on a plane. Nicely done. Thank you. And, oh, there's this guy Vince, who's maybe also on vacation, and he's going to help her somehow. Yeah, Vince is going to help big time, because after some totally understandable freaking out, Susan has figured out where her passport is. I realize it was probably a good idea to call my hotel in Kyoto and just check in and ask them. They picked up, and I explained my situation. She didn't understand what I was talking about, so then I passed my phone to, you know,

to a Japanese friend, and he explained the situation, and they immediately said, yes, we just found the passport. Okay, which is great news, except you're about to get on a plane, and your passport is 300 miles away. Yes, exactly. So, I mean, I was slightly relieved, but the information didn't do that much for me. Found passport good.

Passport in Kyoto far from Tokyo flight bad. The trip from Tokyo to Kyoto and then to the airport would take almost eight hours alone. Amory, guess how much time Susan has before her flight? Eight hours. Eight hours, exactly. And that is not including time she's going to need in Kyoto to actually retrieve the passport. So while she's trying to figure out what she's going to do,

and she's on the phone with the American Embassy Emergency Hotline. Hello, US Embassy Tokyo. Susan puts up this Reddit post in the Japan travel community, which has a lot of people posting travel tips and other information. Emory, you want to read the post? Yeah. Okay. Being a complete idiot, I left my passport in Kyoto at a hotel, and now I have a flight from Tokyo Narita at 6.30 p.m.

Is there anyone who happens to be coming back from Tokyo in the next few hours that I could meet at the airport or anywhere in Tokyo? Such a long shot, but I would be eternally grateful and willing to compensate. So Vince, the guy browsing Reddit in the Starbucks, responds really quickly, actually. He says, what hotel? I'm in Osaka with nothing to do today, and I feel like an adventure. Okay, Japan map time. Susan's in Tokyo.

The passport is in Kyoto, and Vince is in Osaka? Right. So Osaka and Kyoto are actually pretty close together. You could almost say Kyoto's on the way to Tokyo from Osaka, but this is still pretty crazy for someone to do this, which is part of why I think the post starts to blow up online. Vince is like, let's do this. but at first, Susan doesn't respond.

And people are like, where is she, man? I posted it and then closed the app, and I don't think I looked for another 45 minutes. I think I had just been like on hold with the airline forever. And finally they just hung up on me accidentally. So I was feeling really annoyed. And I just like happened to click on Reddit and saw there had already been a bunch of responses.

Including Vince. And I gave him a call. and he immediately picked up and he just sounded like he was completely ready and willing to accept the mission and there was no time wasted on the phone he just told me exactly where he was and when he thinks he could make it to the hotel

and then when he thinks he would make the bullet train and then be able to meet me in Tokyo. It was a really quick conversation. It's almost like he was waiting for my message on Reddit to accept an adventure. So Vin says bye to the Shiba Innu Doge and leaps into action. First, he heads to the hotel,

where they know to hand him the passport because Susan said, give this guy my passport. And then from there, he actually starts kind of responding in the Reddit thread and also posting on Instagram, giving updates as he goes,

because people are getting excited watching this play out in real time. Oh, it was fun. It was a blast. That was probably the best part about the whole thing. Another great part of this whole thing, Vince's documentation of the trip, complete with, epic music and train stations where dance troops are whirling in circles, spurring him on.

And once on the train itself, Vince documents his snack regimen, which is funny because it's a race against the clock, but he's also having this kind of wonderful Japanese train travel experience at the same time. Wonderful except for the quality of the cheese he's eating, apparently. Real Parmesan, like, you know, the real good stuff is extremely dry. And this is like, this is like a chewy, like, you know, almost. mozzarella-e kind of texture. It's just not. Yeah, this isn't Parmesan.

All right, Vince. Snack break over. Back to the chase. We decided to meet at Tokyo Station, which is one of the big stations in Tokyo, and because that's where the Airport Express train left from

that went to Narita, but it's a massive station. Getting together at the train station was probably the hardest part of all thing. Tokyo Station is insane. We were messaging each other about where to meet, and then actually it still took, it still probably took like at least 10 minutes to find each other at the station because there's

just so many entrances. Are you at the East Gate, the West Gate, the Central Gate, the Shinkansen gates, the Narita Express gates? Are you at the Chiota Line? Where are you? When you guys finally saw each other, how did that work? I mean, was it just like you threw the passport tour and you each ran off and separate directions or did you high five? Did you hug? What happens? Well, she knew it was me because

I had previously sent her a picture and my driver's license so that she knew who she was dealing with. And of course, she was looking for a six-foot-two, you know, goofy-looking ginger with glasses. So, I mean, you can find me from a mile away in Japan. I still didn't know if I was going to make my plane actually. And my train left in, I think, maybe 10 minutes. So we had like a very frantic rushed conversation. Obviously, I expressed my gratitude repeatedly and told him how much it meant to me that a stranger would do something so kind.

And like, you know, I just thanked him a bunch of times. And then music swells and... Just kidding. They didn't go live happily ever after? Not all international missions end that way, Emory, and this one wasn't even over. And then got on the train that was at on the platform because I thought it was the express train to the airport. Wait, she thought it was the express train? We went one stop and this person came to check my ticket, which I think in the entire two weeks of being in Japan,

no one ever checked my ticket when I was actually on a train. And she saw that I had the airport express train ticket and was like, no, no, go back to the station, go back to the station. and go back to the station. So then I was like, holy shit, after all of this, I still might miss my plane. I mean, that was just, that might have been the worst part of the entire day. Because, like, after all of this, like it just felt like the stars were aligning for me to make that flight.

And then just one stupid mistake, and I got on the wrong train. So she goes back the other way. She meets Vince on the platform. She gets on the right train. Later, Susan discovered her misadventure had a lot of online spectators. I didn't really see the play-by-play, but I did notice eventually that it had really acquired like a group of people that were rooting for me to make my flight and the passport to be delivered. So that was really touching.

I suppose this is a better, this is like a better outcome than the succulent. Yes, definitely. That succulent is long gone. The succulent might be long dead, but this story ends well. Well, Susan made her flight. Thanks to our 6'2 ginger with an understated sense of heroism. You also said that you're not the type to say no to a request, which seems like a really dangerous statement to put on Reddit. Well, I mean, it's got to be obviously reasonable. You know, for me, it didn't really seem like that big a deal.

I honestly think most people wouldn't say no to a reasonable help request. I like your outlook, but I also think that, like, there are so many people out in the world who would look at that and be like, oh, man, that person's really screwed. Yeah, I mean, I guess maybe that's like, maybe that's actually the real story here is like, you know, what is helping and, you know, where do you draw the line for something like a request? I reimbursed him for the train ticket, obviously, and he refused anything else. And I let him know next time he's in New York that many. beverages will be on me. Are you going to go to New York so she can buy you dinner? I heard that she offered to do so if you, uh, next time you made it out to New York. She did offer to buy me a beer. Oh, beer, that's right. Um, that seems like a small reward, I got to be honest. A beer,

she, I feel like a dinner, it seems more. I mean, if I'm ever there and we ever bump into each other, I'd be happy to, but yeah, it's not a, it's not a big deal. Yeah, you know, just in case in a city of 8 million people, they just run into each other. Good luck with that. But Vince, man, so freaking modest. What a guy. I know. Modest and also, he's just like a positive vibes person on the internet.

And I salute that. Heck yeah. Mission improbable accomplished. We got another mission for you, though. Back in a jiffy. At Radio Lab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science, neuroscience, chemistry. But, but we do also like to get into other kinds of. of stories. Stories about policing or politics, country music, hockey, sex, of bugs. Regardless

of whether we're looking at science or not science, we bring a rigorous curiosity to get you the answers. And hopefully make you see the world anew. Radio Lab, adventures on the edge of what we think we know. Wherever you get your podcast. There is something powerful about the sound of the human voice. Beautifully produced audio has the unique power to connect and inspire. Tell your organization's story with a custom podcast from CitySpace Productions, the creative studio from WBUR's business partnerships team. Become a thought leader. Recruit new talent.

Reach new audiences. Whatever your goal, we can help. Discover how the magic is made at WBUR.org slash creative studio. Hey, Ben, do you recognize this music? Oh, man, I know this music anywhere. It's Skype. It's that music that tells me we couldn't find a cool studio. for someone to be in or that we're calling overseas.

Yep. Hello. This is Ross Simpson. My username on Reddit is Yo, it's Yucca. I'm originally from Liverpool, and now I live in Canterbury in the UK. Eight months ago, Ross wrote on Reddit, looking for help buying an engagement ring. Sweet, right?

Yeah, that's nice. Yeah, so a few months after that, Ross got dumped. But I hadn't really taken it very well, and I was just getting myself down. And I was working my office job trying to stick it out for sort of two years and do the responsible thing. Ross works in the corporate world. And then I had a meeting, a bit of a progress meeting with my CEO in work.

I think he could see me drift in off as he was talking. He said to me, Oh, Amory, does this story start with Ross getting dumped and fired? Nah, just dumped. Ross says he was actually killing it at work. His boss told him that he would probably become a partner in the company pretty soon. What more could you want from a progress meeting? I think just him saying that just made me think.

think, God, like, I'm, you know, I'm living this corporate lifestyle and maybe this isn't exactly what I want. So, yeah, then when I went home, I was just about to go to Ben. I thought, you know, I'll put this post out on Reddit and just see if anyone's sort of crazy enough to come and join me. And yeah, that was the start of everything. Okay, so before I tell you what was in the Reddit post that Ross made that night, Ben, did you ever have a really bad breakup? I had loads of them. So what did you do to get over it? Like, did you listen to some sad songs on repeat, eat your feelings, watch some bad movies.

Yeah, I just, like, played my guitar in the corner, flipped my hair around, you know? Oh, boy. Okay, so Ross probably did some of that, too, but he also wrote this on Reddit. You know, my girlfriend broke up with me, and now I'm planning a 1,600-mile run from the UK to Sicily. Is anyone crazy enough to join me? Okay, a 1600-mile run. That's bananas, Ross. That sounds actually crazy. So where did this idea even come from?

You know, I've always been a person who's not really too focused on career, and, you know, I want to travel a lot. And then this crazy idea was just hatched, and I didn't really think too much of it. That's a pretty nonchalant attitude for someone who is about to drop everything, run 1,600 miles or so, and start a totally new life on the other side. Right?

So you'd think there'd be a chorus of Redditors shouting in unison. Wait, Ross, no. And then actually it was the Reddit post, really in the support that I got from there that made me think actually maybe this is possible. Okay, so the mission improbable here is not just a 1,600 mile run, which for me I think would be a mission impossible, but also he's starting in the UK. He knows about the English channel, right? Yes. Okay. He's aware.

He broke down his route. for me, which he realized is actually not a 1600-mile run. It's a 1,780-mile run. Even better. I'm going to be leaving Canterbury where I live now, once I've got rid of all my worldly possessions. And from here, I'll run to Dover. So then I'll be taking the ferry over to Calais in France. And then from Calais, it's kind of a direct line across France to the border of Switzerland.

He'll make a semicircle around Lake Geneva, bangalooy up into the Alps, and then back down into Northern Italy. And then I'll go down through Tuscany, through Siena, into Rome. He'll go past Naples, hop a ferry to Sicily, and then run the coast road to Palermo. And I might, if I have time, do a sort of traverse of Mount Etna as well.

You know, if he has time. No bigs. How long is this going to take Ross? So he's scheduled it out to take 120, days, so going between 16 and 17 miles a day. That actually sounds like a plan that requires you to be a serious runner. Oh, definitely, which is why Ross posted this in the running community on Reddit. But that actually brings us to a tiny detail that makes Ross's epic adventure all the more improbable. Are you a runner already?

Were you a runner before you got thinking about this? Well, I thought of myself as a runner. Don't we all, Ross, my man, don't we all? Last year, I'd spent some time training for a half marathon, but then the winter came around and I sort of just lost a bit of momentum with it all and kind of gave up. So maybe January this year, I was still struggling through five-kilometer runs. Emery, this seems like a very bad sign.

Actually, you know, within two months, I'd run my first ultramarathon. How far of a distance is it? I know it's 50K. Do you know what that translates to in miles? It's like 30. Maybe 32 or something along those lines. It is technically only 31 miles. Oh, yes.

Only 31. But no, this is a big deal, Ben, because a typical marathon training schedule is about four months. And you know this, we should say, because you, Amory, also run marathons. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Which is why it's crazy that he trained for a 31-mile race in only two months.

I mean, that's just a beginners, ultra-marathon when you venture into that world. But luckily, you know, through Reddit and through the support of other runners, I just managed to get through it. And then that sort of gave me the extra boost to think I can actually do this. So there was the morale-boosting variety of support, like the comment, mate, do it, do it. It's a crazy idea, sure, but the best ones always are. And then there was the more sobering, practical support and advice.

Like packing, Tiger Bomb, Vaseline, Zengottsi, sunscreen, Nielsporin, duct tape for blisters, and other essentials. Duck tape for blisters? Damn, that's some real talk right there. Yep, straight from the mouth of Miriam Diaz Gilbert, known as Ultra Miriam on Reddit. She's run a ton of races, including 7.50-mile ultras and 3, 100-mile races. So, yeah, she had some thoughts on supplies and on what to eat. Apocados, dark chocolate, almond milk, coconut milk, eggs, bacon, and smoothies made with fresh fruits and vegetables. A high-fat diet, basically, which other ultra-running Redditors agreed with.

You know, try and just eat things like solid butter, cheese, oily fish for my joints, you know, proteins to sort of mediate some muscle loss. Emery, butter, chocolate, cheese, avocados, I think I just decided to become an ultramarathoner. Okay. But Ross's plan gets more intense than that been. Or perhaps I should say more intense. There's a few subredits out there are ultra-light, which is about ultra-lightway camping. So I've just been scouring some people's posts on there, which has been really, really helpful. Oh, yes. Did I mention he's camping along the way? So he's running with a tent on his back and sleeping on the ground every night, basically?

Pretty much. But he's got a couple more weeks of something. sleeping in a real bed. Ross leaves on May 1st. What is really driving you to want to do this? You know, it's not just so much about physical things and that you're going to look good if you run all the time, but, you know, it's a good way of finding mental fortitude and teaching yourself that you can keep on going, even when you think that you should stop. And, you know, your limits are much higher than you think that they are. And, you know, I've had some times in the past where I've been quite low and depressed.

And, you know, spent long times just doing nothing. But, you know, I'll be out there, breathe into other people that you can get out there and do something, you know, even if you feel like sad and alone. What would you say to someone who would say, dude, you are literally running away from your problems right now? No, I like that. Actually, I didn't think about it that way.

But, no, I think it's about starting a new life. And, you know, a new identity is the person I've always thought. that I could be. And yeah, so I feel like I'm running towards something, not run away from something. What do you hope to get out of this? Like, what if you get to Sicily and you just meet another person who breaks your heart and you get another corporate job? I mean, I think that you just learn things, don't you?

Each time that you're in a relationship or each time that you do these things and you gain new perspective. And I think the perspective of someone that's run across continents is definitely going to be a more empowered perspective than what I have now. And to be honest, you know, I would never would have done this run in the first place if I hadn't been in a bad relationship. So if it does and it leads to something else good, then bring it on. Bring it on. But wait, is anyone else crazy enough to join Ross like he asked for in his post?

You know, no takers yet. So then, you in? What day does he leave again? May 1st. Oh, yeah, definitely can't. I have to wash my hair that day. Sure. Emery, do you think Ross is going to make it?

Oh, Ross is making it, Ben. All right. No doubt. We call this episode Mission Improbable, but I believe in you, Ross. So you just give us a call, man, when you hit that Sicilian Beach. Yeah, we hope you find what you're looking for. And make sure you duct tape those blisters. We've got links on our website to Ross's Instagram and Facebook pages

where you can follow his travels. And he's also going to be doing some Reddit AMAs or Ask Me Anything posts, so you can ask him questions along the way. He's also turned this adventure into an opportunity to raise money for charity. Bravo. There's more info on all of that at WBUR.org slash endless thread. Endless thread is a production of WBUR, Boston's NPR station, in partnership with Reddit. Our show is a dream realized by Jessica Alpert, who, when we ask if she likes the episode we've put together, she says, WTF. Iris Adler is our executive producer, and she makes sure our stories

meet the bar of mildly interesting. Mix and sound design by John Parati and Paul Vicus, who, whenever we go to record in the field with them, they remind us... Nature is... Lit. Our web producer is Megan Kelly, who looks at our attempts at writing web copy and goes... Aw. Our intern is Chris Yulian, who when we put him on a task, he politely says...

Hold my dear. Michael Pope is our advisor at Reddit, and whenever we try to have a serious meeting with him, he's all... I'm a toddler. Our theme music is by Squelcher. This week's episode, Art is called Rush. It's from Redditor Jennifer Horde.

Her Instagram is jennie. H-O-A-R-D. On Reddit, she's dusty old bones. On Reddit, we are endless underscore thread. If you want to contribute art to our episode or give us a juicy story tip so we can tell it like we did today, hit us up. This show is produced by Josh Swartz.

Also, my producer and co-host, Amory Seavertson. I'm senior producer and host, Ben Brock Johnson. I'll let myself out.