You Be Trippin' - Iraq w/ Giulio Gallarotti | You Be Trippin' with Ari Shaffir

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Follow Giulio on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notjulio and subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@notjulio SPONSORS: -Download Cash App Today: https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/7chyhxwm #CashAppPod. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement . Discounts and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit http://cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. -Head to https://Superpower.com and use code TRIPPIN at checkout for $20 off your membership. Live up to your 100-Year potential. #superpowerpod This week on You Be Trippin’, Ari Shaffir talks with Giulio Gallarotti about his surprisingly unforgettable trip to Iraq. From convincing his girlfriend Iraq is chill to flying there alone, Giulio dives into funny run-ins with Iraqi soldiers, mystery taxi drivers, checkpoint pranks, and the shock of how welcoming—and happy—the people are. He explores ancient Ur, visits the stunning Al Abbas Holy Shrine, camps in the wetlands with water buffalo, and even takes a questionable souvenir from Saddam’s palace. It’s a story about culture, chaos, unbelievable food, and why Iraq might just be for everyone.مع السلامة! You Be Trippin' Ep. 108 https://www.instagram.com/arishaffir https://www.instagram.com/youbetrippinpod https://arishaffir.com Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:26 - We Are Going To Iraq! 00:05:48 - Convincing Girlfriend Iraq Is Chill 00:10:30 - Flying to Iraq 00:12:15 - Funny Iraqi Soldiers 00:19:15 - All Alone In Iraq 00:23:51 - Taxi Dilemma 00:25:49 - Visiting Ur 00:31:13 - Camping On Day 2 00:33:14 - Iraqi Wetlands 00:39:34 - Saddam Hussein's Rebuilt Ruins 00:42:08 - Visiting Saddam's Palace 00:44:37 - Piece Of Chandelier from Saddam's Palace 00:47:15 - Modern Tech At Ancient Shrines 00:52:33 - Pilgrimage Hikes 00:54:23 - Unbelievably Good Food 00:55:31 - Women's Clothing In Holy Areas 00:57:36 - Happy Muslim Lady 00:59:25 - Checkpoint Troubles 01:01:17 - Pranks In Iraq 01:06:20 - Iraq Is For Everyone 01:11:47 How Culture Moves Through Places 01:14:01 How To Travel Solo To Iraq 01:15:58 Whats Is Next For Giulio? 01:16:17 Living With Monks In Bhutan 01:26:10 Guilio's Travel Advice 01:30:49 Looking At Flights For Baghdad 01:35:58 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. WestJet, where your story takes off. This is funny how fucking filthy this place is, but it looks just here. It looks pretty solid. I mean, it's like I have to step over things as I touch the cameras.

Dude, it's one of the more impressive overall things. I've appreciated it. I'm so not built for it. Like it works so well, obviously. Like your episodes all look fucking amazing. It's so. Yeah. But whenever I have it, like you're a, you know, fucking dork like me, but like whenever

I have like a, like an actor or some writer and I'm like, I'm so sorry. Where you've been and where you're going? This is our race travel show. Yeah. We're going to talk about travel today. It's you. Welcome to you be trippin everybody. It's a travel podcast.

Every week, it's a different place with some guests who's been there. We just talk about it. Kind of more less what you're supposed to do, more of what you just did. Just what you did. And somebody said you're supposed to get just out of your vocabulary. Just? Yeah. Interesting.

There's better words. Interesting. Anyway, Julio Gallerati is a guest second time. Huge honor. Last time, Afghanistan. Yes, sir. Hell yeah. Where do you want to go today?

Where are we doing? Dude, we're doing Iraq. Okay. Okay. This is great because I've already told people no more Amsterdam. It's all the same story of getting too high. It's like all the same exact story. And then no resorts.

I've had to dump a few. I was like, I don't know if I told you this last time. It was like, it was great. We got into a kayak. They brought us margaritas. And then, but. Do you enjoy a resort? I have enjoyed it.

Listen, you're like, you're like, like me we're not first class guys but if i get bumped up to first class i'm not like this is bad 100% yeah i want that upgrade all day yeah it's not worth 900 but i'll take it for free yeah yeah i'll take it for free should be a great name of a jewish podcast take it for free um yeah and i've even had a few israels but like i don't think any from jews osmus bowers i'm trying to think who else but like all right different experience, typical parrises. No Iraqs. No Iraq, good.

Fuck you. Glad to be the first reacted. When'd you go? Why? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so first let me say, last episode I did to the show was probably the most fun I've ever had on a pod.

Nice. I appreciate it. Hell yeah. You know, it's one of those things where I know we probably talked about this briefly last time, but you show up to a party and you have all these fucking stories,

you can't just start telling stories the whole dinner. You know what I mean? God, you want to, though. You want to. And it turns into something where it's like I start only talking about it when I'm asked and you'd be amazed how often people don't ask. They want to know about the fact that I know famous people. It's so weird. You're like,

guys, this isn't what the fine. Like I have better shit here. Do you know Mateo Lane? I'm like, yes, I do. He's a great guy. Um, so yeah, dude. So anyway, so you had a good time last time. It was the best. It was the best. Nice. So anyway, okay, Iraq. Uh, so. I had been doing, I made the video in Rwanda, then I made a sort of experiment. In Rwanda? The first video of these I did was in Rwanda. Okay.

What are the videos called? You have entitled for it? Yeah, so it's just on my YouTube channel. Not Julio is the channel and I have a bunch of these videos. They're getting really fucking good. It's not Julio, right? Not Julio, yeah. With a J.

Oh, because I'm Julio. Giulio. Yeah, it's. Not Julio. Okay, that makes sense. Anyway, so that's the channel. You can find all these on there. They're all really fucking good, honestly.

Okay. And they're getting better and better. So anyway. Nice. Did a Rwanda video. I was amazed at how different it was than I thought it was going to be. Then I started putzing around trying to experiment and I was like, you know what? I've been hearing that people are going to Iraq.

I've heard that now you can do a visa on arrival there. Really? Yeah. It's still the case. That's so huge. This is a while ago too. It's like 2022 I did it in the fall, I think. Maybe 2021.

I don't either 2020 or 2020 or 22. The visa on Iraq is so, when I went to Southeast Asia, it was just like. It's huge. It was like, oh, you got to. Like look up which country you're not going to be able to get into. Yes. So get those ahead of time. And then other Thailand is like, sure, welcome.

Dude, 100%. And it's one of those things that, you know, we're lucky because we have a pretty solid passport here in America. And the word visa typically only refers to a credit card for most Americans. Like no one's thinking about going a lot of places where you'd need one. Right, right. You don't need one for Europe. You don't need one for the islands, whatever.

So just to make sure, I feel like this matters like when I was there. Yeah, 2021, November 2021. So put this plan together to do this trip, lied to my parents and told them I was going to the birthplace of civilization, which is not a lie and not like it's any of their business, I guess, but I was like, I'm going to Mesopotamia, which. And my dad is like a, he's a political science professor. So he like theoretically know, like that brings up a red flag for him.

And he's like, what the fuck are you talking? He goes, I know the ancient places you're going to, but what are the modern places? So in this video that I made, which is one of the best ones I've probably made, my places you can go Iraq, it's called. Yeah. Places you can go in Iraq. Places you can go Iraq. Wow.

I filmed the phone conversation with my dad. It's pretty funny. He's like, what the fuck are you talking about? I was like, I think I'm going to Kuwait. I think I'm, so anyway, I make this whole plan. My girlfriend at the time who was down my wife. Congratulations. Thank you.

It took some time to convince her that this was a good idea. And it was pretty incredible. I mean, I could see why people would go, no. Yeah. And so it's interesting because with Afghanistan, I was like, it's going to be fine. It was fine, but it was still more of the Afghanistan that maybe I didn't want it to be, if that makes sense. I had some scary moments in the Afghanistan trip. Okay.

This trip was so incredible in every single way that it made me think that there was a dangerous place that existed on Earth, for real. There was not one. There is not one. That was like, and that was my whole thing. I was like, what's it like really like? You know what I mean? I've been hearing that people are going. Like, I want to check it out.

Dude, it was amazing. It's best trip I've ever taken. What? It's, I recommend it for vacation. I recommend it for a honeymoon. Wow. I know that sounds insane and annoying, but I, I'm, I stand by. Honeymoon.

Stand by that. And every like travel person I know who's been there like fully agrees with me and is like, isn't it crazy that nobody has any idea? I'm like, dude. I know. It's insane. I mean, what are we talking? First world, third world?

Third world. Third world. Third world. Third world is a pretty wide range. It is. Most of the world is third world. So like... Yeah, the Bangkok airport is like, this is a really lovely airport.

And then you go outside and like, oh, pestilence. That's what I guess. Yeah, dude. Totally. So, you know, in Baghdad, there's nice shit. Like, there's coffee shops and stuff where you're like, if I remember putting on my Instagram story, where am I? And like, people were like Sweden.

like yeah yeah and I can even I can show you some of these but yeah we gotta plug this shit yeah so I don't I don't have no that's okay yeah you have that cool cool hold on there's another one yeah so just and dude such a well-rounded trip in every way yeah you're good

so okay who'd you go with so I went with my guy who I always go with this guy Zach who's an amazing camera operator and just like really brilliant eye like and he has sort of like a cinema background so we make these really cinematic cool looking things so anyway uh so i always go with him and they're okay with you being a homosexual nice dude nice uh i think probably i think probably uh i don't know i don't know to be honest but uh but probably i think you probably be fine um so anyway the i hired these people to

show me around so this is funny the first day we're going there. I get a what's that message from them and they're like, hey, uh, sorry, we're like stuck in, in Sulamania, which is in Kurdistan, which is like northern Iraq. Okay. And it's sort of a, its own autonomous area where, where you actually need a different visa. It's a completely different thing. Kurdistan? Kurtistan. Whoa. Yeah. So it's a little more like, uh, you know, poor man's, but that's already in Iran. That's, no, it's in Iraq. So, Erbil and, you see the top right area. This is all Iraqi Kurdistan.

Like once you get to, so when you see Urbiel, Soleimania, this is all its own autonomous area. This, all this. Yeah, all of this.

Autonomous. Also, they have their own government and they always have. They were never really involved in the war and it's a completely different thing. They speak a different land.

Kurdistan region, Iraq. Yep. So. Oh, is the Kurdistan region, Kurdistan province Iran? Is it go over that border? So the whole thing is sort of its own

and I think it's different depending on where it is, but like it's this area where the Kurds live. So it's like Eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, I guess they're into. Kurdistan for the Kurds. For the Kurds. I had this moment of outside the Whole Foods in Union Square and some guy passed by this like whatever art.

And it was like that. It was like Ecuadorian like that handbag. Oh, nice. I was like, hey, you from Ecuador? And he goes, no, Peru. I was like, oh. And he goes, oh, that's all the same. It's Andy's.

It's like we're the same people. Got it, got, got it. And I'm like, oh, right, someone else put a border in there way later. Totally. I have that thought all the time. Yeah, and it sounds like this is one of those. We're like, what? Absolutely.

No, we're not Iraq or Iran. We're Kurds. Oh yeah. Dude, a lot of, and, you know, unfortunately, that phenomenon has caused quite a few problems in the world. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, so Kurdistan has, I think, always been Vizan arrival for forever. Federal Iraq, which is the rest of it, was not.

Federal Iraq was like very hard to go to. Obviously had been. very war-torn for many many years, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, now it's 2020. I'm like, huh, I wonder what the fuck's going on in Iraq these days. And I'm like, oh, it doesn't really appear like much in a good way. I'm like, I'm going to go check it out.

So visa arrival, all good, fly through Qatar. I remember getting on the flight to Basra. It was like the first gnarly trip I've ever taken like this. Basra. Where's that? Southern Iraq, southern tip of Iraq. It's like so funny. I've heard of these things only from fucking wolf blitzer.

Yeah, yeah. You know, shit like that. We're like, yeah. So Basra looks like the Iraq that you picture in your head right there. Okay. Flat, hot, oil, like burning in the distance. But the rest of Iraq doesn't really look like that. Like Baghdad doesn't even look like that.

So basically the route that we went, we started there in Basra and then we kind of made our way up. So we went to Nazaria right there. We went to. Well, how'd you go? Drive. Drive. You got you rent to cars or? We had a driver.

Yeah. And the people who were shot us around. So we went to Nazaria. We went to Karbalah. We went All the way up to Baghdad. And then we kept going further north into Samara, which is militia controlled,

more intimidating sounding than it is in reality. But they're not as friendly as the Iraqi soldiers. The Iraqi soldiers are fucking gray, dude. These guys rule. What? And they bust your fucking balls. It's so funny. Like, people over there, man, are just huge pranksters.

So I was getting pranked left and right. Oh, sorry. I'll show you some pictures with the boys here somewhere. With the soldiers? They're pranksters? Dude, they are fucking pranksters. I know, I know. Sorry, there's so many good things to talk about here that's like hard to, but I don't know.

I'll find the soldier's picture. Okay, as you're looking for that, just glance at it. What's your feeling when you land it? The boys. Wow. The fucking squad. These guys rule, dude. They're all super cool.

Why? They're just awesome. Like they love and everybody's so stoked that you're there. They're so fucking stoked that you're there. They're like, oh, what's up? Like you're on YouTube. They're like, take my picture. Like, da-da-da-da, YouTube.

Like every single person wants to be on the camera. On your camera. Yes. Nobody's weird about the camera. Like I was worried about that. Yeah. Just because Saddam's gone? No.

I think like, I don't know what it would have been like with Saddam. But like the people are just cool ass fucking people, dude. Yeah. Sorry, this is a picture of my wife. as a child. We won't. It's okay. We won't show any of the normal, normal core people.

So anyway, uh, wow. What's, what are you holding? Uh, probably water bottle. I must have been eating ice cream or something. Oh,

I thought it was like change or something. No, no, hilarious. And do you weren't going to get robbed or anything? You didn't feel like that? Dude, places like this,

people don't do that shit. You know what I mean? It's like, uh, it's like, it's like rude or fucked up. Like people, like,

you're not, you're not going to like have petty crime happening in a place like that. like a super like devout Muslim country. It's not even that. I mean, there's pretty secular looking people running around too. So it's like not,

it's not that intense. Okay. Oh, hi everybody. I didn't see you there. You know, it's time to break your episode. You know,

I'm here in Latin America. You know, who's really big is this dark lord that they have, they worship out here, practices of dark arts. His name is Jesus. Jesus Christo.

I don't think it's any. relation to the real Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ. But he practices dark witchcraft. One of the things he has a master's walking on water. I've been studying his ways. I'm not quite there, but I'm close. I'm close. I'm just barely able to get up.

Anyway, I'm here to break in today's episode. I'm going to take my break for the studies in the dark arts. To let you know a little bit about the guest, Julio Gagalari. His Instagram, you should follow him. Is it not Julio? Not J-O-L-I-O. He's a master traveler. It's one of the best of all time.

legitimately. He's top five comedy travelers. He, him, Harlem Williams, Russell, who else think of a Gaff again? I'm missing people. I'm missing people. But he's up there. He's got a travel series on YouTube also. Look, I mean, I am out there. If I sink, I am dead. But so far I'm not sinking. He's got his own travel series. You should watch the Iraq episode we talked about today is up there. It's on his YouTube. YouTube.com slash not Julio.

He's also got a brand new episode about Tanzania. Before he seen the Iraq one, go check out his Tanzania video. He just released it. He went to a rural Tanzania town going through the Industrial Revolution. A little school at the center of it all. You guys, I like how he didn't just, like, tell you about the places and stuff to eat. He actually shows you what's there. Giulio's really kind of doing it right.

Julio. Julio. His website is Notjulio.com. He'll be April 25th, a big laugh in Fort Worth for two shows. And May 8th and 9th, the Costa Creative and St. Pete, tickets at notjulio.com. And that's it. Follow him on YouTube. Follow this podcast on YouTube.

YouTube.com slash at you be trippingpot. shirt, the t-shirt, I study the dark words, a harsh fear, and I say Jesus Christ, by the Lord and Savior, it's got a lot to teach you that he didn't really cover it. They don't want you to know everything. They don't want you to know everything. How windy is this, Alan? Too windy, I'd say. Is that better?

That's it, you guys. Let's get back to the episode. Wait, there was something else was going to say. Buy a T-shirt? No. I missed it. Well, I missed it. What are you going to do? Julio. This is a Trippy Award nominee. for most adventurous and best trip i would say most adventurous for sure trippy award nominee uh julio

galerati coming back now let's get back to the episode oh that's what i was going to say please everyone enjoy your Ramadan safely and happily try to like get enough at night if you eat at night to really get through the day uh here at ubi chippin podcast to this Ramadan two different arab country podcasts because we care about you and i don't want to any any trouble. Let's get back to the episode. Help me, Lord Jesus. Ah, close. There, there. No shit. I lost it. I lost it. I lost it. Ah, fuck. I lost it. I lost it. Cut, cut, cut, cut. I need help. The only, I guess, intense thing. I mean, there's checkpoints. Any high security country, there's checkpoints. You get stopped. How long do you stay in each city and stuff? A few days.

A few days. And what did you do? Coffee and just restaurants? No, no. Okay. So, first of all, we get there the first day and they're there in sulamania they're like we're doing a tv interview like we're not going to be back okay which is not what you want to hear you're like well what are you talking about let me one more time that's in the south sorry sulamini is all the way north oh that's kirtistan so they're in kutistan they live in kurdistan okay uh and then i'm in basra and they're like we're not going to be there but we're sending a different guy with you which i'm like all right like i don't like this switcheroo but okay and then they're like he's actually not going to be there till tomorrow either so you're just on your own now not knowing shit about iraq that's like not great i'm

like what the fuck dude like i'm at the airport i'm kind of like stressed out they have this like bullshit hotel fee they charge you that's like unofficial yeah and there's some british guy in front of me he's like not paying it and they're like you have to pay it he's like no i don't and i'm not going to really i'm sorry um and then he didn't pay it and then we did pay it and we and he's like what's up guys he's like, what are you doing here? And we're like, oh, we're just visiting. He goes, what the hell, why not, right? And to this day, I have no idea whether or not he was being sarcastic.

I think he was like an oil contractor. What the hell? Why not? What the hell? I was like, oh, you know, we're just checking it out. And he's like, what the hell? Why not? Like.

Was he like, you're ruining this? No, I think, no, but I think it was either like, you're an idiot or, and I don't understand or like, yeah, yeah, I might as well check it out. Or like, I know what you're going for underage. You're going for six-year-old brother. and it's fine. I don't think it was that. I don't think it was that fucked up.

Loud and clear, bro. I'm not going to ask questions than one of those. Thanks, dude. So we take a taxi and we go to this hotel. We get to the hotel. It's like immediately funny. How time out? How much are taxis?

This one must have been 20 bucks, 10 bucks. Not much, if I recall. But more on that later. Okay. The end of this part of the story is really, really good, in my opinion. So anyway, we get to the hotel. The dude working there barely speaks in any. but he's like trying to relate he's like Will Smith this is all in the video

and do we found this guy's Instagram and he's hilarious it's all these videos of him like pump an iron and like such a character wait this is on YouTube yeah yeah what's what is it it's places you can go Iraq okay okay so go ahead okay so go ahead so yeah so Yeah. So then we're like, where should we go for dinner? And they're like, you go to this place. They're like, we'll call you a taxi. And yeah, this is it. We'll call you a taxi. And, you know, when you're done with dinner, like, sorry. I would say it's probably like two minutes in as the Will Smith guy. That's so funny. What? Central Park. That's a central perk? Yeah, there's a central perk there. In what? In Baghdad. Yeah. It's that crazy. Isn't that insane? What? I know, dude. Wild. Oh my god that's so cool. Yeah it's a super fucking gnarly trip. Yeah let's see.

Okay. Right there, right there, right there. Back a little forward. Maybe we'll go a minute forward and you'll see the dude. Right here, right, right, right. Well. I'm a deep far. Yeah, no, no, you didn't quite go far up.

In like 30 seconds it'll pop up. But if you want, I can just keep fucking telling the story. Yeah, tell me the story. So anyway, we're here at this hotel and they're like, all right, like go here for dinner. So we go. And they're like, text this number when you're done, and the taxi will come get you. Okay, hold on. Yeah.

The difference in that lobby of that and what you're seeing is wild. Yeah, yeah. The hotel wasn't like bad, but it wasn't like super nice. It looked nice. It was solid. Okay. Better than like. Better than this.

Yeah. This is like the classic beginning of a war movie. Like there's just insurgents and all those buildings. His profiteers, even though it was a ferris wheel. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And Basero was actually apparently never that involved in anything. Southern Iraq

Even they weren't right at the Kuwait border Didn't they invade Kuwait? Wasn't that the first one? During the like Saddam era with Like the Iran-Iraq war invading Kuwait maybe But like with the Americans like fighting them Basra was never super involved As far as my understanding goes okay

This is the part Here he is Sure let's do it Yeah sure Oops This is the guy This is the guy I love Will Smith.

Yeah, he was, Will Smith. Legend, dude. He would be commenting down on my shit. This guy's the go, dude. Oh, my God. Wow. Yeah. So this, yeah.

So, Jad, Aya, and Aya. Yeah. Recently, Ahmed and Aya started a travel company. called Sofradi that's really taken off. Okay, okay, okay. So, anyway, so we go to this dinner, and this is the interview they were doing that they couldn't come to meet me for.

Because they were busy doing this interview, but like I just sounded like fucking sketchy. I was like, what do you talking about? We had a deal. Yeah, but they're on the Silamania TV show doing this interview. Like, this is what they were doing. So all good, and now I'm good friends

of both of them and talk to them kind of semi-regularly. She's got a fucking broken girl. She's got that junk. Oh, would you say Brooklyn girl? Yeah. Hilarious. So, yeah, we... Yeah, it's New York.

Yeah, anyway. So, yeah, these two are married. They're cool. And yeah, they're doing well. Anyway, so we go to this dinner and no English on menus at all. And I didn't know what the fuck the things were. Fortunately, Google Translate has the image thing where it translates images. Images of words or the food?

Images of words. So it just goes straight and gives you the... Basically, it'll be like chicken and rice. Just translate the words. Like, not exactly because there's a little bit of loss in translation shit that happens. Yeah. But yeah, you can like, so we're like joking with the guys. Nobody speaks English.

We're pointing at what we want. They're like, all right, great. We have this great dinner. Then we go to try to figure out the taxi thing. Now, my phone's not working. And I'm like, fuck, like what's going on? I had pretty good service most of the trip. It's a very solid 3G the whole trip.

But for some reason it hadn't kicked in yet. I'm trying to figure it out. So we go outside to try to hail a taxi. see and some random car pulls up and is like get in and Zach and I look at each other and we're like this guy's no way who like looks sort of sketch and then we just get in and we're like was this stupid and we show him where we're going he kind of just goes and then we sit there and he's like where are you from and we're like oh America and he's like oh and then he drives us to the hotel yeah and I'm like how much do I owe you he goes no no free free please welcome and that was basically what happened

the entire trip everything was basically free the entire trip you go and you try to to buy something. No, no, no, for you, for you, for gift for you. What's, there's a catch. Yeah, the catch is that they don't ever see a fucking random guy visiting and they think it's sick. Everything's free, bro. They don't let you pay for anything the whole time. What?

It's incredible. What? Yeah, it's wild. It's wild. So, like, I was buying, like, there's all these old Saddam bills. You look way young. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Crazy, right? All these Saddam bills and I was trying to buy them. They're like, no, no, no, for you a gift. Give you a gift. Please, please. They're trying to give me a rug. I'm like, bro, I'm not taking a rug back.

No, for you, grift. My, bro, I can't travel with that. So, and then after that, never look back. The guy, this guy on the right came to pick us up in the morning. He's the fucking man. His name's Sajad. What do you want here? We are on this thing called Er.

Look it up. It's sick. So, dude, that's the other thing about Iraq. Unbelievable. Like, uh... How do you spell Er? You are. Look at this fucking thing.

Er was a significant Sumerian city state. Oh my God. Bro, like the most ancient shit on earth is in Iraq. This is like the literal birthplace of civilization. Written language was allegedly invented in Iraq. Ancient, ancient. We're talking like, you know, 5,000 years ago type shit. Really?

Do they have a word for deodorant back then? This is slightly newer than what I'm talking about. This is not Err. This is Err. But Err is not like the place where the language is invented, but just to give you an idea. When was this from? I think, I don't remember. But I want to say...

Oh, look at the people. This is how big it is. But it's old. So you're on those steps. Dude, it was sick. And like, nowhere.

What the fuck was this? Just a, some fortress or something? A fortress. Okay. Temple. Um, super cool.

And like, there's shit like this all over the country that you've like never heard of. Like, I've never heard of this. It's such a weird structure. It's not even a pyramid. It's like it's weird. I know.

It's wild. It looks like some ancient alien shit. So there's stuff like this. There's like, uh, Samara is another is another one. It's this like insane, uh,

what do they call the winding thing the circular winding thing Samara Raqa that thing whatever that's called What the fuck is that? There's a fan I'm stupid for not being like a tower of babble

It's uh god damn it what the fuck god Minaret a minaret A minaret I would not have known that And dude you can just go up Dangle your legs off it there's no like No safety yeah I love it the guides were like annoyed about it They're like it's annoying that like

they don't there's nothing in place to like preserve this shit you can do whatever the fuck you want which is cool as a visitor and I respect this stuff you know I'm not trying to fuck it all up but they were annoyed they're like you know we want to preserve this stuff you know especially as opened up now it's probably going to be like everyone's going to take a piece of it yeah yeah so okay so this is dude so the next day I try not to always check the itinerary too closely because I don't want to ruin it for myself you know but there's a balance between planning properly tomorrow we're going to this yeah okay just like I don't want to know but sometimes you need to know

it'll make the video better but other times for this it was okay to like discover everything Who's making the itinerary? The I and I are So you're checking like Hit me on the spot with us So I can know right then

Like I'm not like don't tell me But when I get the it it's I get the it it things But I'm not like researching what it all is Okay Hey guys I learned a new scam It's when you're in Brazil At a carnival

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Head to Superpower.com. Use code Trippin at checkout. for $20 off your membership. After you sign up, they're going to ask you how you heard about them. Make sure to mention this podcast to support the show. Let's get back to the episode. So I see that we're going to the Marsha, the Mesopotamian marshes, okay, which is this ancient marshland, you know, whatever.

And I didn't like look into this, but apparently we were camping. And this is like the second day we're there, the second night we're camping in the middle of these marshes. I'm like, all right, well, what is the alternative? And Sajab was like, okay, you could stay in the Marsh House, but you don't want to do that because look what's in the Marsh House. And he goes, this is what is in the Marsh House. Wait. What?

It looks like storm ship troopers. Wait. What the fuck is that? What the fuck is that? Apparently they bite and shit, dude. Bro, what the? How big is that? I mean, dude, look, it's like, it's the, look how big.

on go back that's on the shoulder that's your shoulder it's about like massive that thing is fucking it's like that's it like that no i don't think it's quite that big smaller just like the it's got to be smaller than that but uh yeah not this big so you know I was like I do not want to sleep with that fucking thing wait they're just in there I got in the house in the marsh house so apparently the marsh guy is like why they're not pets dude I don't I think yeah they're pests they're like wandering around he's like we could sleep in the marsh house but FYI

and I was like fuck that let's camp so you take this boat into the marshes and you camp on a fucking island and these are these are these are but it was like even more remote than that and this is I think this can't be current

this is maybe like back in the day I don't actually know but what do you got but do you know so so I guess I can try you on here too So we're camping out The marsh they're cooking for us and shit So it's this little island that that's like in the mo but it's solid enough you can stand on it? Yeah so I'll show you real quick

So we're taking this like little boat into these marshes and then camping And you know you're in the middle of the desert so it's kind of like you need what what it's not an ocean It's just a no it's a marshland just a wetland there's all these fucking water buffalo And these people have lived here forever on the marshes And here's like a That's gorgeous Yeah right Really pretty

It's fucking random Whoa Just standing there Nice reflection Yeah right So you know Pretty cool And

And yeah So he's like Don't you don't want to stay in the house He's like dude You don't want to sleep in the house We're camping And I left some of my shit on land And like I had some shit stuck in my teeth

And it was like really hurting And I was like I need floss so bad I'm in a tent I'm like this fucking blows Only the second time I've camped in my whole life. I'm like, this still sucks. That's so funny as wild as you are. Like, I don't like camping though.

Dude, it's just, it's hard. Like I was, me and the, in Zach, we're basically, we're on each other. We're, like, touching. It's the tent small. Sejad's sleeping outside. I'm like, dude, this is too ratchet. Like, but it was sick, obviously in retrospect. Yeah.

Oh my God. Okay. So, you know. That's so cool. So you stayed there the night. Stayed there. Cooked out. Cooked out.

We started getting real as fuck with each other. This is in the video too. But, Jad starts being like, you know, man, like, sometimes I like post online and like I want people to like me and like, like, I want to post what people think will like about me, but I realize, bro, like I got to just be myself. Like, and when you're yourself, people like you. I'm like, dude, exactly. It's like as if we were fucking stoking up by the fire. It was so funny. Having this real ass conversation about social media. Wow. Wow. Wow. So, yeah. So this is like day two. Wow. Like crazy. And then Aya and Ahmed come to meet us the next day. We go to this music. together at the museum they're like so stoked they were at the museum that they like give us gifts and then they do this whole press thing with us and then they post it everywhere they're like the american delegation is here visiting the hotel uh or sorry visiting the museum and we granted them gifts uh all funny and how did you find any of these people i and ahmed were recommended i went into like

a facebook group and i was like who are some good iraq guides and like they got recommended the most of anyone I heard there's a pushback on on chat GPT now with obviously this pushback but the pushback is actually don't want chat chabit give me your recommendation I want people so a lot of many people are going to read it now to be like I want a I want a human who's seen something in an actual review instead of what this thing thinks I'll like so that's like in in regard to travel it's like oh these people in the Facebook group this guy's good right right right right right I don't doesn't chat

also like get updated only every once in a while maybe right exactly and so it's like that guy's dead maybe but also it's just like I don't want like an amalgam I want to know what people liked and didn't like specifically and I can go in from there do totally and that is like so important when it comes to this tell him Nancy sent you he'll and then he's like Nancy called like oh I love Nancy tell her I said hi it's like all right this is what I actually want 100% and not only that but you want to know how Nancy fared like two weeks ago right right right right right you don't need like a six month ago recommend Because sometimes in these places things change. Ever since his wife was executed, he's been different. Yeah, it's like, oh, okay. Chad GPT is not up to date on that. Chad GPT also lies. Chad GPT lies.

Me and Collum, we were in the condo in Denver. You and Collum? Yeah, and we're like, I had some little those lollipop lamb chops. We're like, let's make these. And then he just saw some whatever leftover spices and oils were from the last 50 people that stayed there. And he goes, Chad, GBT, and he takes a small video of it. This is what I have. Can you make me some sort of dipping sauce?

Marinate. And they go, yeah, and they do this, take this. It was bad. It was really not good. And we had to like, after like four bites, like, I don't know. And then like four bites in, we're like, it's kind of blows, right? Like, yeah, it kind of sucks. Yeah, dude, doesn't surprise me.

Chats of People Pleaser, dude. Yeah. Okay, so, yeah. So we go to this museum. This is in Nazaria, which is where Err is and a couple of these other things. These is going to be crazy because it really does like, like date back civilizations. Dude. Yeah.

Like as ancient as you can imagine. Like truly like as far as civilization is concerned. Yeah. Fuck Greece. It's here. There was like nomadic people. But like yeah, it predates Greece like ancient Greece like all that stuff. Like pretty sick.

Um, and then. Yeah. My buddy just made a, um, video, uh, Zane, uh, about all these nomadic. try it was in uh maybe Kazakhstan but the world nomadic games oh cool yeah and it's just all those people that are like

well I've been riding shooting arrows off horseback for fucking 800 years so we just know how to do this dude or like the foul like the birds and shit hunting with like birds yeah for sure they had that they had um they had all the fucking nope and they had a uh we saw nothing uh yeah all the fucking weird shit uh um

wrestling, a horseback wrestling, you got to get a guy off, the fucking pick up a goat, carcass. Yeah, that's booze catchy. That's like an Afghanistan thing. Really? Yeah, it's called,

World, no, medicate. It's got to be all the same region. Yeah, it sounds like a Mongolia or Kyrgyzstan type of thing where people are only of those places, they have those big, great planes. Yeah. And shit.

I'm sick, dude. Okay, so go ahead. I'll check that out. Yeah. So eventually, Sajad hands us off to Ayan Ahmed, who took over for us for the rest of the time. and had a great time with them.

We went to Babylon, which, you know, is... So Saddam did something cool. Babylon was destroyed. Saddam rebuilt it to what it would look like. So it's there looking like what it would have looked like. So this is Googled. Oh, this is cool.

This is the... Yeah, this is him. This is beautiful. Yeah, he's just, he's a fucking weirdo. He's fun. I love that. Anyway, so he built up what? Yeah, Babylon.

Look up Babylon. Babylon. Babylon Iraq. On what? So on where like, so there's a, there's almost like a gradient where you can tell where the original foundation stones are and where the new ones are because he literally rebuilt Babylon. So bottom, our top left there.

This? Yeah. That's part of it. Like this is what it was. This is what it looked like and he rebuilt it to look like. He built all these towers here. This stuff on the side is definitely rebuilt. The stuff in the middle, unclear with the deals with that.

But yeah. We were, and then that arch. He would build stuff like that. I forget. The original arch might be in Germany. Babylon ruins reopening an Iraq controversy. Yeah. Yeah.

It's weird. People want shit done the way it was. They want it left alone. But if it was still in use, like the Empire Stapelting didn't just get decrepit. They fix it up. Totally. I fully support this move personally. Yeah.

You're not changing it to fucking Kanye's house. Right. You're like, guys, I'm fixing up the fucking broken pipes. 100%. 100% So he Rebuilt it And it looks like

What it would have looked like Like the ancient city Wow Which is like this fortress Like it's amazing Super cool And on the hilltop Is Saddam's palace

Saddam's summer house And you can see that right there Where Bottom left Saddam's palace In Old Town To the right of that Right there That?

I believe that's it And it's on the hill So no And even the one next to it Gives a better shot That one Right up there Oh

Bro this fucking thing Thing is crazy It's like huge like these like that's that's where everybody went for the u.s. shows they all went to that bro this is that what they're talking about he has like seven of them do this is just like a random summer house classic strong man grafted corruption dude like can i just say i've just figured out right now that saddam hussein ruled i only knew him as this fucking villain but what a baller

seven mansions just a dog probably more than that and not even a man that's not even a regular mansion. That's a, that's a palace. And dude, this shit is like, so, there's not a ton of stuff still in there. They kind of like looted it and there's a lot of graffiti and shit. But like, there's some areas that are not just available to anybody. And if you like juice the guy, it'll take you upstairs. Bride culture.

A deal a little bit. So, and dude, there are these like dining halls that are like unlike anything I've ever seen. Like, massive. And like the pool is massive. It is sick. This is also in the video too if you guys want to see it okay uh go to the video yeah places you can go the video actually it's it's a quick little segment so i would say go just gee i do that for a second god it's like a fucking okay it's right here it's right here so i think it's after this right after this section so this is like the maze thing i was telling you about keep going and there's saddam's palace right there this summer house wow look at this shit dude oh crazy right like

That's opulence. Big time, dude. Wow. Just like, side, like, scale. And now people are just graffiti. Are they, like, fuck this guy? Yeah. They are.

But bro, like, look at that. Look at that room. That's a crazy ass fucking room to throw a party in. Wow, you can skateboard through it. Right. This is like a birthday song. I think that the other videos playing too. What?

I think the Kazakhstan video is playing too. Yep. Yep. So anyway, this is a, but that's one of the pools. Wow. So. Do the people there go, hey, sure, we can use this as a museum, but fuck that guy forever? Or are they like, do there are there some reverential people to them?

Controversial. It's one of those things where it depends who you talk to. Some people have been like, you know, when he was there, there wasn't any of this bullshit that happened after with the power vacuum and the secretary of violence. So there's people who like favorably look back on it. Other people who are like, fuck that guy. And it's one of those kind of things. I love these too. How the people, where was I in?

Columbia. Who was their guy? Narcos is all about him. Oh yeah, fucking Pablo Escobar. Yeah. Looked on pretty wildly different. And then his old prison where he was that he made into something nice, you can go there. There's a couple hikes that start right there where you can go there.

It's like an old age home now. And there's signs everywhere like, this guy's a piece of shit. Don't take pictures of this. And don't leave your fucking trash. There's old people here. Crazy. And the guy you're visiting sucks, by the way. Crazy.

Yeah. It was like, oh. Dark tourism. Yeah. Yeah. And then other people. And then there's guys that were in his group. They'll take pictures with you.

They're still there. Like, I'll put a gun to your head. And the guy's like, yeah, I killed like 100 people, dude. They all forgave it. Crazy. Yeah. And then, but then the other areas, they sell Pablo merch. Yeah, Mao.

Yeah. Huge in China. And they're like, didn't you kill like millions of your own? Yeah, I don't know. I don't even know. Yeah, they sell merch. But yeah, dude, crazy. So that's the deal.

But dude, when we went, when we went upstairs and I brought this, because I thought it would be cool to show you, there's like pieces of like chandelier on the floor. And I'm like, oh, these like the original. like chandelier things and the guy's like yeah he goes take it and i have it i brought what yeah this is from saddam's palace what check it out why didn't no one take it yeah it's just like no one cares like the fact that i can just fucking take this home with me and there must have been like thousands of these on this chandelier because that's not that like isn't that cool um but this it's crazy yeah what a different fucking viz six souvenir

look at that thing there was a few and i was like oh i didn't just take it but I was like oh is there are those like the original thing like I was yeah here take it I was like okay cool and it was in the area where like you can't really go in but like there was a couple other people up there if you just like knew the guy type of deal wow I love a souvenir like that yeah souvenir um I actually don't even want them if I can buy them you know I mean yeah right right right crazy thing like this dude Rolf wrote a book about souvenirs and how interesting it is that like the history of them in general Interesting.

And how, like, you'd rather get outside the Eiffel Tower. I went to the Eiffel Tower shirt made in, like, Indonesia. Right, right. Then if you got home and ordered one from Indonesia, like, nah. Totally, totally. Like, there's got to be a link to it. And then the different types, which is like natural, like a rock somewhere or a reed like that. Yeah, this is the marshes, though.

That's the cool thing. Wow. Yeah, you could pull a piece of that out. Like, that's a cooler souvenir than like. Totally. Totally, totally, totally, totally. How cold was it of this stuff? bundled and it's not even night yet we were a little chilly at night this is the fall

it's obviously hot as balls there in the summer okay and it would get pretty hot during the day if I recall but it was the nice time of year so it would be like hot but then it would be cool at night it's sort of the vibe yeah um pretty cool um so yeah dude then you know stams palace uh Babylon and then we went to this place called carbala which is like the third holiest site in shia islam okay and people do pilgrim is there and the place is unlike anything I've ever seen. It's like this mass and like everybody's there. It's so packed and people are going there to and it's like clean.

There's like 100 people cleaning it constantly. What is it? You should get pictures of this? Yeah, that's in there too. Actually, I have good ones on the phone here. Okay. Cleaning it because it's holy. What happened there?

So like one of the Shia like people. is buried there. Like one of the famous one. I forget. That green stuff? Yeah, this is all part of it. All part of the shrine. And that's in the background.

Wow. How crazy is that? Modern. Cool. How cool is that, dude. By the way, this is all through

like the Buddhists and Hindu areas. They doll it up like that. Me and Marr, everywhere else, Indonesia. And it's like, why? It's like,

because if they had this technology then, they would have been like, let's honor our friend of God with this cool shit. I was into it. I loved it. Wow

Yeah And this was like Not even the busy time of year There's this time of the year Where time lapse? Yeah, we did like a time lapse But yeah This is what it looks like inside

It's like Crazy who's buried there Or who Amam Hussein I want to say Who's like one of the Yeah dude Oh my Crazy

What There's this weird rule Where you can't film But you can film on your phone It's like okay What? Yeah They're like no cameras

But like you're like Your phone's fine. That's, how high up is that go? Weird loophole. Wait, play that again. Yeah, I'm sorry.

This is, uh, I gotta see that roof. Yeah. Al-a-Bus holy shrine. Oh. How far up does this go? I don't think it's that.

It's like an infinity room. But it's cool, right? Yeah, like here's another shot of that all. But dude, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. And there's just a bit,

this is late a night, too. It's like packed. People are people just chilling? Are people being religious or just hanging? So they go into the shrine and they like kiss it and they're like crying it's like a really intense

it's beautiful oh my god it's like a fucking Yaya Infinity room and in there everybody's like kissing the thing and they're like crying and fucking it's pretty wild oh you know it would be great right there

if you just came up and served somebody dance moves let them fucking respond honor him fucking serve me back Oh, dude. People going in and praying. And anyway.

It's Muslim, right? Yeah, Shia specifically. Shia. Shia. Is it a type of Muslim? Yeah. So Sunni Shia, everybody listening, forgive me for like not knowing more specifically.

Like, don't take offense to this. But this pot is about not knowing. Okay. So people like, you didn't get anything right. Like, yep, none of us here are experts. We just went to a place. So this is the way that I, to probably oversimplifying, Sunni Islam is like,

quote more traditional that Muhammad is the person who is worshipped and it's like there's Muhammad and sort of that's like the deal. It's like simple. In Shia they worship people who were related to Muhammad and I think that Sunni people don't believe in that. They're like that's evil.

There's something like this in Christianity. We're like what do you mean you're praying to the God St. Anthony to the to the St. Anthony to find your shit? You don't pray he just was talking to God. Talk to God. What are you doing? Kind of. Yeah. I think it's that. I think it's like Muhammad's the only guy in Sunni, Shia, there's more people that are worshiped.

I guess. Again, sorry for the oversimplification. But so two of these really famous places are in Iraq. So there's Karbala and Najaf. I think Najaf is even more holy than Karbala if you had to rank them. We did not go there. When I go back, I'm going to.

And they told us that they could give us a permit because they took us in the back. They're bragging. They're giving us saffron tea. It's fucking delicious, by the way. They're like, we'll get you permit and then they didn't but now that I know what I need to do which is back to this paradox where it's like I don't want to over prepare but if you're under prepared I could have gotten permits to do shit there is that that's a it's a battle all the time it's tough I want to be because I don't know how you are if I over repair in a light country like in a normal place you know

then I'm like stuck to these reservations I made but I want to just be like what do you feel like today like oh let's go by Frida's house and you go like yeah you need to like two weeks ago you to make reservations. Like, fuck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, totally, totally. Exactly that. So it was still amazing.

There was some 15-year-old kid like doing a sermon. Hot? I mean, you know, it depends. He was charismatic. Okay. You know, he had that going on. He was charismatic. And he's just running the show.

And apparently like some of these people believe they are special and this kid was fully drinking the Kool-Aid and he's killing it. This is also if you, And the people listening, like in the Carbala segment, you see this kid. He's just ripping it. He's like, the man. He's like, everybody's like, oh. And anyway, so it was really cool to see this like giant, it was like Las Vegas for religion.

Wow. Bright. And like our hotel room had like five beds in it. Because it's like you bring your whole fucking family here. And during this one famous time of year, you march this long road and everything's free along the road for everyone. Food, you stay. And then like you make this journey to.

to Karbala and an adjoff. It's like a pilgrimage thing. How far is that? I don't know. I think it's kind of far. Like days? Like potentially, yeah. I think you like sleep along the road

and these like different places that are set up. A pilgrimage. It's like proper and they do it every year. I forget what it's called. But like it looks sick. It looks so cool. They have those.

They're doing these dances like, do da da, da, da. Like, yeah, cool. You get a video of that? No, you didn't. I didn't do that, but. It's a time of year? Yeah, I've seen videos of it and it's sick.

It's like super. With all these pilgrimage hikes, so, so like, community to Santiago is one, you know, like, I don't know who you're following in like, from France. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that long, long one. But then, like, my buddy told me did one in from like Nazareth to Bethlehem or something like it or to Jerusalem. Cool. And it's this mixture.

Same thing. It was like Jesus walked here or one of his one of his like, you know, fucking homies did. And so it's a mixture of very religious people that are like, I want to walk in the, in the footsteps of like Mark or John or something. And then also like dirtbag backpackers. They're like, cool three day hike. Let's smoke weed. Totally, totally, totally.

That's like, that sounds very fun. Pilgrimage. Yeah, dude. So that was pretty cool. Do you feel like spiritual when you're in these places? I think I really like this kind of shit. I'm realizing like religious, big like important religious things I am into. Like I think it's really cool typically.

So yes is the answer. Yeah, it's like greater than. It's not like a statue that some king made or some like ruler made it to like, it's like, this means something. Yeah. Yeah. And so the other thing too. Even Big Ben is cool, but like, yeah, no.

I mean, I'm trying my best not to be cynical about that. I still think I get it from Big Ben. Like I get it the first time I see a thing that I know about. But I feel you. Like it's cool to kind of. It's made up importance. Big Ben is our Kardashians. It has no importance on its own.

It's only important because it's been important. Interesting. You know what I mean? Does that make sense? You could potentially do that about a lot of stuff though, if you wanted to. But not, yeah, but I'm saying not religious. Like, oh, here's where Jesus got washed. Like, oh, there's a reason this is a big stone.

Didn't I didn't get what you. Yeah, yeah, 100%. But yeah, it's special. And I didn't know about it at all. I'd never heard of it before I went. So. Yeah, no one's heard of any of this. It was incredible.

And dude, the whole time, dude, it's chill as fuck. The food's unbelievable. It's like picture, you know, Middle Eastern food, you know, hummus, meats, whatever, and just like a fuck ton of rice, like delicious rice. Got pictures of that? You got to have food pictures. No? I have some. I have some.

I have some. I have some. I have some. Like this. Like some shit like this, dude. Oh. Like. Is that like fried noodles?

I don't even know. I think this is right. It's like rice and like there must be nuts on top and just, dude, but it's fucking delicious. Oh, look at all those dipping. Dude. Yeah. Like everything. And like, people are pretty stout there.

There's like, they're like thick. Yeah. Of those two soldiers, one looked like he was eaten. The other was like, I borrowed this jersey for my dad. There's big guys. And yeah, dude. And the vibes are elite the whole time. Everybody's cool.

And in a place like Carbala, it's like, every woman is wearing the thing. You know what I mean? They are. So this is the big debunk you had last time where it's like, people aren't really wearing the hijab. So the difference is you don't have to do it in Iraq. And as you saw the girl, she was just dressed normal. Which wasn't always common.

but like no it's all good anybody can kind of dress however they want but in the holy areas you're supposed to and she hated it she's like I can't fucking hate you wearing this thing and she wore it and was like whatever disgruntled about it she was raised Muslim yeah it's so funny

the people that get mad at their own religion but not something else you know I mean like if you're at some snake charmer village you'd be like sure what do I do here I'll just like this 10 times I'll do it but then if it's like Jewish shit like I don't do that anymore totally when it's your own thing you're sick of it yeah I think about that sometimes.

I'm a fraud. Yeah, I'll take my shoes off to go to a fucking Buddhist monastery. I don't care. Dude, exactly. Yeah. Totally. Totally. So there was that and, you know,

fraud, yeah. There, there's all these, like, like, drawings and paintings of these, like, women wearing these things. And it's an intimidating image, like, in the West. When you see someone dressed like that, it means a place that's, like, scary. At least since 9-11, up until maybe, like, recently. that image was sort of like used in that way. Like anytime you saw those people in a TV show,

it means that like people were entering a bad situation. So they show these women dressed like this, but like in these images, it's mothers, they're like crying over children they lost. And like that image is like the image of like a mother there. So it doesn't like represent what like people in the West think of when they start seeing people that look like that walking around. Right.

And whether the face is fully covered or not. Just with the thing, over the head. Yeah. And the burqa, I think is full and the hijab is just over the head, but not the face, if I'm not mistaken. But dude, like, same shit. Like, we're walking around these markets and we're seeing women dressed like that who

were like, hey, can you take a picture of me? And they're like, yeah, so I'm posing for pictures with all these women. And they're like, can I see how I look in it? So they can pose. Okay, cool. Yeah. And I have a really great shot of that too in the video when we're walking around this fish market.

Like this lady's like, oh, take a picture. Take a picture. Like, she's like, I want to be famous. famous like take a picture this is really sweet dude show her picture yeah yeah i feel like probably like promoting it though she wants me it's all you want to be oh yeah show it for sure uh it's my girl dude she loved it she was fucking eating it up look at her chees and wow it's my girl dude uh yeah so anyway and then like you know we go into the umbrose store where they sell the iraqi national team like soccer jersey and shorts and like the girl there is just dressed like

mad normal she's like flirting with me and shit and the guide was like I think she liked you I was like yeah your guide yeah the guy was like no no the guy didn't like me the guy's like I think the girl in the store liked you can people uh yeah I know I know people uh can they like fuck like not really so like for example if you have a girlfriend you're like if you were to like live with them that's like not a good look like your parents would look down on that even if your parents are like mad cool but like if you were single and that girl sounds like she was like oh hey would you have like like let's go out or do you go,

what are you doing later? Come back to my place. I don't know. If you could pull off the ladder, maybe there was a way to. I could not pull it off. But you're just like, can someone who can pull those things off,

pull that off? I don't know. I'm not sure. Maybe, but it's a pretty innocent culture when it comes to that stuff. And even the Ayan Ahmed, they were like, we got married because like it wasn't like cool

for our parents weren't cool with us living together. And their parents are like, cool. I went to Ahmed's parents' house and he's chill with his grandparents and his parents and they were like the nicest, chillest people like was amazing but still it's like

no no you shouldn't be doing that so they're young and they got married but dude so what would happen a lot is some of the most innocent interactions I've ever seen so we get pulled over at a checkpoint ayah the girl is dressed normal and the Iraqi soldiers aren't always used to that

so they're like where you guys from and they're like well they're from America they're like let's see their passports whatever and then they're like where are you from and she's like oh I'm from Iraq they're like you're from Iraq and she'd be like, what, you don't think we have pretty girls in Iraq?

And every time they'd be like, I don't know. Like it all bashful and shit, dude. Cause it, wow, that's how that's how not flirty they are. It's like childish, like, I don't know, it was wild, dude. It was wild. And then the like maze thing that we were looking at before, in Babylon. So it's like probably five feet to the bottom of that.

And the, sometimes, the gap is like this. So you can step over it easily. But if you have anything about heights at all, you might hesitate. You might be like, yeah, before you take the step. Okay.

So I is doing that. She's deliberating how she's new. Some guy yells, he's like, you can use me as the bridge to get over the gap. That guy got in so much trouble for doing that.

But like in the cutest way, again, a police officer saw it. He goes over, he grabs him by the ear, by the ear, and pulls him over and makes him a paup apologize to her.

What? And he goes, I'm sorry. And he's like, good, you learned your lesson today. I felt like I was at recess, dude. Yeah.

Like, that was like a cat call. It's the mildest cat call I've ever seen. You can use me as the bridge to get a, he was offering utility. I mean,

yeah. Yeah, it wasn't even like, I'll be your tampon. He didn't say nice ass. Yeah. He didn't say a bridge. He's like,

walk on my back. That's the king of England. I'll be your tampon, dude. Do you ever see his love letters to Camilla? He said that? He goes, I want to be your tampon. What a line.

I know. And it seems terrible, but also like, ball or sexed. That's a line. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck yeah. I want to soak up your period blood. That's how much I'm into you.

That's how much I love you. All right, I'll fuck you. What a dog. What a dog. Fuck yeah. King England. So yeah, dude, those are kind of the vibes. And then, yeah, I got to get back to the prank.

Okay. So these pranks. So the soldiers would fuck with you. They'd be like, hey, they'd stop you and these guys are armed you saw the gun that guy had he's like passport with the little shoulder exactly with the shoulder thing and I'm like oh sorry like did I do something I show my passport he flips open and starts like confirming that it's me like very aggressively kind of for a while and I'm like is everything all right then he's like I'm just fucking with you

I'm like are you sure he's like yes welcome in Iraq like over and over and over again welcome in Iraq welcome in Iraq welcome in Iraq welcome in Iraq they don't quite know the yeah not quite good with prepositions but hey I only I only speak one language well Welcome in a deck. Yeah. And then the guys... Yeah, it makes more sense. Welcome to a record.

No, welcome to be in a wreck. Right, right. Agreed. Fully makes sense. And then the guides, I and Ahmed, fucked with me really bad. This is probably the craziest prank

anyone's played on me. It was the day before we were supposed to go home. Like, hey, you need to take a COVID test to leave the country. It's like... 2020. 2021. November 2020.

Yeah, they were doing that shit. And they're like, it's bullshit. Like, you know, the government's like raising money. Like, it'll be over. It'll be fine. but we'll just do it and then tomorrow we'll pick you up and then we'll hang out

and then we'll bring you to the airport I'm like great next day they show up to pick me up wearing masks and I haven't seen a person wear masks the whole time I've been there so I'm like is everything alright

they're like sorry like you fail your COVID test I'm like yeah they're like I'm like well can we just fucking pay somebody off and they're like no they're like

so I'm like what happens next and they go well government escort's going to show up in a second and take you to like the northern most part of the country which like just sounds intimidating doesn't necessarily mean anything yeah but sounds pretty terrible sounds pretty terrible they're like you're going to have to quarantine by yourself for 15 days and you have to pay for

it too oh sorry um and then you'll test again if you're like the southernmost part of new york city you're like oh no like what fidei oh that's right yeah yeah it sounds intimidating and then they're like you might fail the test like a lot of the times people fail you have to quarantine yeah and then they're like you'll have to stay another 15 if you fail days so 30 days they're like is likely and I'm like what the fuck and ah med starts going yeah dude like I haven't been feeling good either like we have a big group coming like if I test positive I'm fucked he's like I have the cuff I'm like oh my god I'm sorry and Zach Zach is is negative so we're debating I'm like dude you should go back like obviously don't wait for me like this sucks but I'll deal with it

and then we're sitting there for like a half an hour like going back and forth about this and I'm freaking out and then they're like ha ha ha it's a prank ha ha ha ha bro, you should have seen your face. I have the whole thing in the video also. They filmed me the whole time. And I'm like, are you guys serious? That is so fucked up. I like, it was a comedian.

I appreciate it. Yeah, at the time. I was like, what the fuck? I'm not loving this. Are you fucking kidding me? What? Yeah, savage. Savage prank.

I was in French Polynesia and somebody, it was around that time too. And it was like, you got to take a test before you get there. And right when you land, like to get on the plane. And then when you land like, all right, cool, you're good. go through and then on the way back you're like I need one within a couple days before and then at the airport some guy two different people unrelated failed and like you got to stay and I got home I got meeting stuff like we're so far past there's no negotiation here whatever you think you have to get

home for so does everyone who test positive damn so you can't go uh your family can stay with you but they'll have to also quarantine and they're like can we go like yeah he's like you guys should go and like yeah we know we're obviously going oh my god but there was somebody else but also you got to stay in french polynesia which is so expensive oh yeah so it's like you got to stay on your own dime and then there was another guy who does a positive they're like you guys can share a place if you want and they're like my name's bill oh and they did that's what they did want to do that cut the price and half like oh yeah okay wow dude what the fuck yeah they take you to a place like we'll pick you up in two weeks nightmare nightmare nightmare i mean in greece

to stay with somebody i'd have to be how much more is it to be my cell oh fuck that sucks I'm looking at you, go like, ah, are you an early riser? Yeah. Turn your fucking phone on D&D. You talk when I'm like on the phone? Brutal. I remember in Greece, they would let you take it when you landed and they'd lie about the day you took it so that you could like be good. I was like, you guys rule.

Greece rules. Yeah. Bringing down the EU one one bribe at time. Wow. Yeah, dude. So anyway, they got me good there. Okay. But yeah, dude.

Can you drink the water in Iraq? No. No. You shouldn't drink the water anywhere, to be honest, in a way. I mean, America's all right. America's typically all right. Except the pipes here are so fucking shitty landlord. It's like, oh, the water itself is it, but it's come through our pipes.

We haven't replaced in 20 years. Yeah. Even though I'm legally obligated, so that's going to get you bad. You know, my advice, if you're traveling anywhere besides Japan or Western Europe, don't drink the water. Be careful because I've gotten sick a million times. Didn't get sick in this trip though. Did not. Did not.

Congratulations. Thank you. Which has even contributed even more to how amazing of a trip it was. How long were you there for? I think seven nights. Wow. And dude, I have this girl. I mean, she was so cool.

She has like the craziest life. So she lived in Mosul and then ISIS fucking. That was like the capital of ISIS. Like Raqa and Mosul. These are like the ISIS. where there was like their own currency, the flags flying. So she had to like leave ISIS territory and then like move to Syria. And then the Syria thing started right when she moved there.

So like everywhere she's gone in her life, like the most significant conflict of the time has followed her around. And like here she is living her life like crushing it. Like it's just wild dude. It must be so when you know that your line is here or what you're capable of and then it goes up to there. You're like, oh my God. Even if you're like, what? I know. There's a scene in a sleepwalk with me.

I haven't watched it. You remember who's the guy? Bergiglia, right? What? Mike Barbiglia? Yeah. And he's like got a booking. It's his first like road booking is a comic and he's a La Quinta.

And like, oh, yeah, and he's jumping up on the bed. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, you didn't think it was possible to have a room paid for. Yeah. A Lakinta was pretty fucking nice. Totally. Yeah.

And it's a good lesson because, you know, a month later it's not good enough anymore. Right. And I think that that never ends. You know, I don't think there's ever a time where you are, you set, like, if you settle in and you still are like so sick. You know what I mean? So it's just important to be grateful. Yeah. But you should do this trip, guys.

It sounds like I want to. And last time I was on the show, I was like, Afghanistan, not for everybody. Iraq, for everybody. You should have the guides, but it's not that expensive. It's Asia, right? Yeah. And they hold your hand. Like, they'll be with you 24 hours.

like they drop you off the hotel at night pick you up in the morning and take you around if they're like hey I'm gonna go on a walk by myself or they're like sure go or like don't you fully could and in this like travel communities everybody prides themselves on spending as little money as possible

and not having guides which I know we talked about last time not for me I'd rather have somebody to take it really depends on the time where what it is yeah like in Paris I don't want to I just kind of want to walk and come upon a cafe and be fine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then I'm like, well, you'll miss all the history. I'm like, yeah, I'm not really looking for the history. I'm looking to be, you know, I don't need a guy for the beach. And the beauty of this of this is that like in Paris, how expensive that person is going to be. You're like, fuck that. For this, it's leaning expensive, but with how much you're getting. Yeah.

I think it's maybe $200 a person for the whole day every day. You know what I mean? Right. Which isn't bad. And meals and hotels are included in that. Wow. What are the bathrooms like there in Iraq? Solid.

Good enough. Regular toilets. In all the hotels, no squatty potty situation. Even with stuff you came across? Maybe in stuff we came across, but like there was not a single hotel that didn't have a toilet. And almost all of them, the shower was separate from the toilet area. Sometimes in these places, the shower, the floor of the shower and the floor of where you sit on the toilet is the same. It's pretty gross because then you get that water just, you're stepping in the way you're shitting.

Like, what is this? It's gross. And there's like these gross sandals on the outside that you're supposed to wear. And it's like these are disgusting too. Yeah. It's like you won't get like rabies from the water. I'm like, but I'll get athletes' foot, right? Oh, yeah.

You're right, yeah. You're not even like, oh, yeah, I guess. What are you talking about? God, Iraq. How'd you fly there? Qatar air, so through Qatar and then into Basra and then out of... Where's Qatar? Where's Qatar?

Right. Egypt? No. So like, see Saudi, like northeast, above UAE, that little red spec. Oh, Abu Dhabi. So right above Abu Dhabi. Oh, that red spec. Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's either that or that. Okay. Yeah, actually, I think it's... The point of one of the top. The point of one. No, no, no, it's here. It looks like a general award.

Speaking from experience, that looks like a lot like a general award. Yeah, guitar air is super nice. The airports, the Baza airport's really small. The Baghdad airport's fine. Security is intense, as you would imagine, but not as crazy as the Kabul airport. Much nice from the Kabul airport. Is your police or just military? Yeah, it's sort of like one in the same type of thing.

But there are militia-controlled areas, and they are less cool, like I was saying, and that sort of tends to be in the north. I don't know what the current situation is with that. But I want to go back, and I want to go to northern Iraq and Kurdistan. So, like, I want to go to Mosul, and I want to go to... I mean, it's so hard to remember this, but it's like, if you come to New York, like, oh, what was New York? Like, where'd you go?

The Bronx is going to be way different than Manhattan, or... Brooklyn. Oh yeah. Totally. Like, oh, the Brooklyn's the vibe or Manhattan is the vibe. It's a like, so like northern region and southern region, like that's a different thing. Yeah, totally. And Vietnam too. I never got to the north, but like that's the French influence. Right, right, right, right. And you're like, oh. And yeah, it's so easy to oversimplify things and group things. And what I typically find is like everywhere's always different. But if you take a step to the right, it'll have some elements of where you were to the left. but some new ones as well.

And then you take another step to the right and the same thing. And by the time you take enough steps to the right, it's completely different than where you started, but it happens gradually. So it's like kind of the same but different and even in America. It's like every place does something well.

Yeah, Tostadas are in like Guatemala. They're also in chopas. Right. And then they become less and less available and then whatever. Right. And then it becomes like a burrito is like, oh, there's some Mexican I moved here.

This is not at all done here. Right, right, right. It's like we have Italian food but that's not in Italy. Oh, totally. And like even in Italy, it's like, this is only here. But Italy especially. I mean, Italy wasn't even unified.

The Paiaz, Madrid and not Barcelona. Right. But now it's like, we know how to make it now, obviously. But like, it's so good. Yeah, when does it become like a different? I know. So it always, anytime I'm like, oh, I'm like trying to figure out what I'll do when I go to a place, it becomes so obvious once I get there.

I'm like, oh, like, why was I so worried about not having enough stuff to cover? I had the savages of like Ecuador, Peru, and how they're different savages, just like slightly like thicker, milkier. Totally. Totally, dude. So yeah.

Pretty, dude, yeah. It's just such a great. Manhattan's different because it's like two minutes you're in a different neighborhood. If you're walking high or on mushrooms, you're just like, whoa, new world. Whoa, new world. Yeah.

Three blocks. You totally. Third to, like, Astor Place to like Avenue A is like different people. Totally. Totally. Totally. It's probably maybe the most extreme example of that, just how dense, at least in the Western world, how dense it is. Yeah. But yeah, man, I mean, Iraq, truly, it was just so under the world.

It was so sick, man. Like, truly special. Like, I would say best trip I've probably been on, all things considered. Who told you not to go there? Who told you to go there? Everybody told me not to. If I had bumped into you, you would have told you, I bumped into you before Afghanistan. You're like, dude, go.

You're the only person who said go. appreciate that to this guy. I love it so much. Like what are you talking about? Yeah. Everyone said don't except for people who had done it and we're like, oh, you're going to have the best time. And I just thought it was such a weird exposition that people were like, oh, yeah, like,

have the best time. And I was like, that's it. Like, yeah, what do you mean? Like, have the best time. Now, if you want to go solo, dolo, this is the important thing. So if you go to Baghdad by yourself and you want to stay in Baghdad, you're good. You'll have, you can go around, do all the stuff. There's so much cool shit.

So many insane sick Saddam era monuments, buildings that were kind of projects that were abandoned, like a lot of good stuff there, right? But if you want to go from Baghdad to Nazaria, you have to like go through checkpoints. And what will end up happening is you encounter some guy who's like, who the fuck are you? And you're like, oh, I'm a tourist. Like, we don't have tourists. And they're like what? And then there's like a problem because they're like, well, who are you staying with? Where are you going?

I might get in trouble because. So just come hang here for a sec. You want some tea? Sure. Yeah, you're good. We'll figure it out. It takes like five hours. And then they're like, oh, you're good.

You can go, I guess, like, if you can get to that point. Or you call a guy somehow. You don't want to have to deal with that shit. Right. So that's where it's like not an easy trip, but it becomes an easy trip when you have the company taking you around. Yeah, to me and my brother went to Petra from a lot. And it was like, I had to do that. We could do it on our own.

But they get the stamp. They get the stamps past, like, whatever. They're going to bus all the way to Petra. And then I'm like, hey, fuck off. I'll see it for. we're going to go do her own thing I don't care about the aqueducts totally and then you get back

but it's like they can get you through they get you like access to things you just couldn't get yes yes yes yes yes yeah Petra man fucking unbelievable you went there so so cool it really is unbelievable like much more than I thought it could be you know

there's a few places where you're like I'm sure it'll just be this and then you're like oh no no there's like it's like the Grand Canyon where you're like oh you just keep going like oh my gosh God. And Petra, too.

It's like you come through that crevice. Yeah, the Indiana Jones crevice. Yeah, and you see somebody like, oh, they're there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You could, like, wander around for the whole day and not come close to see another. The little holes that you can go into?

Yeah, so cool. So what's next for you? This is what I mean, I was talking about this. What's next for you? So I just did a thing in Nepal and Bhutan. I just got put some Bhutan money. The top left. The one, the blue.

I have that one. I have that one. Really? Yeah. The king is on a bunch of them too. And that guy is the goat, dude, the king of Bhutan. So cool. So cool looking.

But I did a thing where I was curious about what it would be like to live with Buddhist monks. So I did it in like remote monasteries in the mountains. So I did it in Nepal and then in Bhutan also. And I filmed it. And I fucking filmed the shit out of it. It's going to look amazing. For another one. Yeah.

I mean, it's not really. You don't have a series. Not really. Like places you can go. I did a place you can go Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't know if I'm going to call it that for this. I might. I kind of doesn't necessarily matter.

Is that one where you need a, I mean, let's do another episode about it, I guess. But like, is that one where you need a, um, the visas, like super expensive per day? Yeah, Bhutan's 100 bucks a day. Which means backpackers just will not be going. Dude, it's, it is the most well-oiled tourist experience I've ever seen. Chaperone? Yep. Yeah.

But it's not like a North Korea chaperone. I heard they just don't want you to see everything. I don't know. I don't know. That could be true. Maybe I just, you know, but it didn't feel that way to me. It was like really pure. Also out of my mouth, I'm just realizing like, there's some place I'm like, I actually

don't want to see the suffering parts. Actually, please do hide that for me. Interesting. Right. Please don't take me to Avenue D if you're showing me around New York. I just, actually, I don't need to know that's there. Yeah, it didn't feel that way to me. Okay.

And it was tough to figure out the, the monastery thing for Bhutan, but after weeks of trying, I finally got one. They would let me go and hang. Don't you have it? After it's, aren't they, we're like, I want to do vipassana? So, go there and say vipasana. They go, all right, come work for me. I don't know.

Maybe. I don't know. I didn't, but for Nepal, so it's funny, like, the two trips together perfectly blend into everything I wanted. In Nepal, they let me, like, participate in all the prayers and dress like a monk and shit and, like, film inside the monasteries and do all the stuff. So that was sick, sort of in the middle of nowhere. And then Bhutan, I had, like, this conversation with this guy.

guy who's like kind of like magical as well as just being a llama and he was like telling me shit about myself that was like how the fuck do you know that yeah it was like kind of nuts I'd fully drank the Kool-Aid and then I was like well how do I become this and this and this and we like talked at length by the way this guy has betel nut root in his mouth his teeth are all red he's booze in like he was a man legend we drank together and then he's like spitting blood all that dude yeah exactly it's great you see the street like so what the everywhere here you're like nah it's just dirt bags yeah and i was like well what i do he's like dude just buy this thing for me he's like every problem you have will go away within three years just

put it somewhere on a mantelpiece and has like special grains and herbs and it 30 bucks i was like done done it's worth it the risk is worth it worth it uh and at 10 grand you're like i don't know if i believe you at 30 i'll take a chance yeah so i got that at home uh and the next trip i'm i'm trying to make one video a month so i did one in katar too on that trip so i did one in katar too on that trip so I shot three separate videos then I'm going to Africa in a couple months I'm going to Tanzania Tanzania Comoros which is here comor that's a country yeah yeah archipelago situation and I'm also going back to Rwanda and you've never been to Tanzania no my dad went there that's where what's the mountain there Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro which now has full Wi-Fi on the whole mountain it's like is that good Really? Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, like, they have their shit figured out, but I'm staying in a village in Tanzania. That should be sick. I'm planning to go to a wedding in Comoros, which will be really fucking cool. And then Rwanda, I'm just hanging out with the comedians I met for the first video I ever made, checking back in with them. So cool to be able to go meet comments because they're like, oh, hey, you're an American comic.

We all relate in the comedy level. Dude. I'm like, oh, are you allowed to say, you know, an F bomb there? Are you not? Okay, cool. We can like, oh, cool. we can do that here we can't but then like and then it's like where's the cool bar or what's the hundred percent it's the same yeah if you don't like remember you're in rwanda you feel like you're

just at a fucking and there's the guy who's the hater who's like that guy's a hack like he just posts a lot he bought followers like they're saying all that shit wow they're being racist to each other but then all that's happening and then they go hey before you leave you need to go to the genocide museum like picture the most cynical comic you've ever met saying that to you wow you know It's me. I would never say that to anybody, but I would as a joke. Check out the Holocaust Memorial before you go. I just want to ruin your trip.

So yeah, dude, that's like... That's next. That's next. And then I want to go back to Iraq. Hopefully the end of the year. Maybe Syria. Be cool, too. And just keep ripping it.

And yeah, dude, the shit that we're making is just looking... Roll fun there. I have a Syria episode. Recently? A couple months ago. Oh, cool. By that guy who wrote that book, Vagabond's Way. Fuck, yeah.

Whatever. But he was like, when he was like 20. But you go up to the mountains, it's your vibe. And you stay in this monastery. Oh, and that's where they speak in Aramaic. Yeah. And it's like, oh, I'll just live here for like a week. Do a little bit of work, you know, or a few days, whatever.

And that's when he told me that one girl's like, I'm not doing this. Like, this isn't Christianity, lady. Fucking chill out. Just do it. They're letting us stay here for free. Wow. Just do the thing. Just do it.

10 seconds. It's fine. Just do it. Yeah. Yeah, dude, totally. But yeah, I mean, I obviously love this shit. And, you know, I appreciated the last time I came on. People really seeing a bunch of nice stuff about all the videos.

The listeners went over to your stuff. Big time. And they were really appreciative of it in a way that was very validating. So I appreciate it. Yeah, it's cool. It's cool. Like you're taking those places that, like, we can't really get to it. Even getting honest.

I mean, the no hijabs thing or not as much as you think thing is so, like, eye opening because, like, oh, I've just been lied to. Yeah, well, yeah, for Afghanistan especially, as far as like the full cover-up sitch and in Iraq, yeah, it's like people just look like just normal. I mean, more so in the more urban, quote, cosmopolitan areas. But it's nice to have somebody like, here's how it actually is. Like, is jaywalking illegal in America? Like, yeah, but like everyone does it. That's not a thing.

Or like, is weed illegal? Like, not for white people. You know, it's like, what do you mean? Like, oh, it's just like inherent racism where they, whatever. It's like, let me tell you what it actually works. It's nice to have someone there going like, here's how it actually is. Dude, totally. And, you know, there was no indication of anything that was like super.

I felt that at ease the entire. Iraq. And but then you drive by and they're like, oh, yeah, that's like a big prison. Like all the al-Qaeda and ISIS guys are in there. Sure, but you're not, that's the things like, that doesn't affect me. Totally. I want crime stats in New York. It's like, I don't want gang on, take gang on gang and gain violence out of it.

and then just tell me can I walk home safely that's all I want to know with violence Iraq you don't got to worry at all and the company I use is called Safrati S-A-F-R-A-T-Y they may have rebranded I don't know but I The Aya Ahmed, they're in the video If you guys check it out

And you can like look them up on Instagram It was called I think they may be they might have just rebranded it But it was called Let me see Let me see what's sorry I'll figure this out I uh

I uh I turn my fucking thing off sorry So fraud Oh safari No no no Let me see if I can I'll look on her page Tour

Oh no it's called N-Lil E N-L-L-T travels That's the Instagram but it'll probably come up hopefully yeah they're travels Iraq tour and little travels wow oh look that's the thing are all right yeah yeah and that's a unESCO there's a ton of cool unisco shit there but yeah bro this is like this is the trip guys today's episode of Yubit Chippin is brought to you by Enlil travels when you're

looking to go to Iraq and a little worried about how you're gonna get around look no farther than NLill they'll get you started from the arranging to the Sending you up, food, making sure your diarrhea levels are low, safety is number one priority for in little travels. If you want to go to Iraq, come home alive, look at this fucking stupid couple. They seem happy.

Want to be one of these stupid fucking couples? Yeah, in little travels. They'll get you hooked up just fine. Look at that blue thing in the middle right there. That's like that monument is fucking huge. What is it? The middle one. I forget what it's called.

Saddam, Saddam built it. And now they're using it as, like a Shia Martyrs Museum so it's like semi-propaganda situation inside. Oh, really? But dude. And little travel, all you have to do is take care of the flight. We'll take care of the rest. For scale, I'll show you.

Reach out at booking at Safari.info. Look for scale. What is it? I'll make this fucking thing. Oh. What? Is it just like a clamshell? It's just a giant something.

Plug that in. It's a giant something. What is it? Is it a building in it or no? So downstairs there is, but, and this is not a sideways one, I don't think, but it will still help? Maybe it go sideways. Yeah, but bro, that thing is huge. Wow.

So you can't go in it? Like, you can, like, go up to it as far as you can. And then like, like, you can. But I'm saying there's no like windows inside to go up. So it doesn't go up, but it goes down. So there's stuff below it. What the fuck is it? Yeah, I don't know.

It was like a monument. There's like a bunch of shit like that around Baghdad. That's super cool. Yeah. Zoom in? Oh my God You look so much younger there I guess four years

Yeah It looks like Stephen Merchant It looks real palsied out your friend Skinny guy Yeah Yeah What a trip Pretty fucking cool

All right Do you have any last Piece of advice before we go Yeah Travel advice It's gonna be different Every time Yeah yeah

I would say The thing that's like In your wildest dreams Where you're like I want to do that And then You think of reasons As to why you shouldn't

ignore them because this happens to me all the time I have that thought process too and then when I'll get hammered and then I'm like fuck I'm doing this dude and I'll start booking shit and then I wake up and I'm like I guess I'm going to fuck that's how I booked for the Rwanda trip at first I woke up with flights to Rwanda I was like all right I'm going to Rwanda this is how mushroom trips are yeah yeah you're like no I'm not doing I don't want to do it tonight and then two other people do it and you're like maybe a cabinet and you're like oh actually just give me a bunch and then you're like now I had a good time I you just have to jump absolutely and what I took from that though is like when you're on mushrooms and the mushrooms

are like, you need to go on that trip. Oh. That too. That too. Because you'll see it clearly. You're right, mushrooms. Thank you for telling me when I'm very open to it now.

Dude, totally. And, you know, it'll be like, oh, it's hard to get there and it's this and it's that. And it's like,

that's another cool Buddhism teaching. It's like discomfort's temporary. Pain is temporary. So it's all right. Embrace that. And it makes things much more approachable, which is very true. And like,

you know, I don't know. I went to Easter Island on my honeymoon. which was like such a pain to ultimately get to and I was sitting there looking at the fucking MoEye and I was like, this fucking rules. So it's always worth it and people are like, well, what if something happens?

I don't know. Yeah, it's always what if something happens? I don't know, man. Yeah, what if you get killed in college? Yeah. Then you shouldn't have gone to college? I know what you're talking about. What is something happens?

Why are you even saying that? Is something going to happen? Agreed. It's like if something's unlikely, then I try to not let it scare me. And a lot of just talk. Same thing with the subway pushers. Everyone outside New York is like, oh my God, it's a word.

Dude, no one at Newy-No has even seen it. I know. And your guys from every other place, like, I would hate to go to New York. Like, it's not a thing. Totally. And even so it's cool that my parents now, I lied to my parents, and then I called them and told them. And now, after they've seen everything and heard everything, if I were to be like, I'm going back to Iraq, they would be like, cool. What are your parents?

Which is a win. What are Italian? Just straight Italian. Both of them, both from Italy. And they are like scared they are like very cautious like don't go here don't go here. But if I said I'm going to Iraq they'd be like okay. Because they know because now they know. So I feel proud that I've been able to like show people that there's a really cool Iraq out

there that you go have a great time at. Okay, I'll do a travel advice too. It's kind of based on yours a little bit. But my friend in Alexandria brought me to Romania, the Booker. And he was like toying with going to Thailand or not or maybe Indonesia. or KL maybe. Anyways, like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. And then if he's like, I think I might just get the ticket.

And then he did. And he goes, I have to go now. Get the ticket. If you're in one moment of clarity, we're like, yeah, I want to go. Don't wait later to get the ticket. Just right there and get it. And then you have to go. Totally.

It's sure you can delay and get travel credit, but probably you just have to go. Dude, and by having the ticket, like that's another thing. It's like, you can plan the trip and steps. So it's like you get the ticket. Then you figure out. I got my trip out there. We'll see how long I'm going to be there. But I'm definitely going on June 23rd.

Spent a little time figuring it out. Somebody like, four days is enough. 20 days is enough. Okay. What can I do? How many cities? Go from there. Totally.

And like the flight, even if it's long, it's just half a day. Even if it's like 15 hours, 18 hours, it's one day. And you get to be across the world. Like, how cool is that? Yeah. You know? So do it, dude. Yeah.

Get in there. There's ways of mitigating flights. So if you're with somebody, you're like, let's have a fucking cribbage tournament. on the way, you know, five hours of that, I'll watch a couple of videos. I don't know. Try to sleep.

Yeah, write something. Totally, totally, man. So, uh, even the stuff that wasn't worth it, there's this mountain in Guatemala where you go up, you know, right next to a volcano

that just keeps going off every, like, minute. It just keeps going off. Yeah. The hike is too straight up. It's actually, the air keeps getting thinner and thinner. You never catch your breath.

Oof. It's not worth it. But when you're up there, it's bomb. Yeah. You know? And you're like, I wouldn't go.

but like getting up there still this is awesome yeah totally so yeah it doesn't it's not it doesn't always feel good every step of the way sometimes yeah yeah but but to get to Iraq yeah man and it's fucking layover who cares you got to go to the fucking birthplace of civilization and you could literally go to you could go tomorrow because you don't have to fucking get a visa you get it when you get there I want to look up one thing she looking up flights yeah yeah do it do it uh New York to Baghdad Baghdad there it is one way now let's do round trip

what is it like Turkish airlines Qatar emmurts probably goes there 18 cheapest 8100 yeah cheapest we're down at 1400 not bad one stop 13 hours you get it for less the little planning

yeah a little plan that's just right now for a month out oh for a month out yeah let's go okay here's a cheap time let's see this this will be the cheapest it is Oh, that's two tickets. Hold on. Hold on one second. Okay. 1,200.

Not bad. Not bad. 1,200 round trip. Dude. Royal, what? What is this? Jordanian Airlines. Oh, good, good, uh, good, uh, good, uh, they got good snacks.

Royal Jordanian, dude. Yeah. I'm gonna go now. That's on my list now. You should do it. Bro, that's on my list. Text me. Let me know.

Okay. You know how it is. Yeah. We should also have like, uh, we'll wrap this. We're done now. But like, we should have like a, a, to like like Turner's like I'm going to camp uh Koresha I wanted that I'm like off air I have some recommendations for you know where it's like anyone who's going it's like hey let me think

about it when you went to Galapagos like let me tell you some shit get out of why it kill not worth it yeah that was helpful yeah just a little boots on the ground recommendations of like there's there is a good coffee shop right outside the airport hit it before you know yeah I think of I hope, I think I gave you most of what you needed in here. Okay, okay. If I think of anything else, I'll definitely let you know. And let me know if you're ever like really carving it out, I can set you up with these two. Okay.

They'll, they'd love to show you around. Damn, you can go either way too, I guess. It's right in the middle. Yeah, really fucking sick. How about Iran? I heard anything about it. I want to do it. My friend went, Swiss, Swedish friend.

He loved it. She said it was three regions. This was eight years ago. There was three or four regions you can't go to. And then 30 that are the most glorious hiking you've ever seen in your life. And it's like modern and like Iraq is too, but I think around is like very like, like it's like a modern leaning place. Look at their leaders.

If their leaders wearing a suit, it's one thing. If the leaders wearing some makeshift military outfit, that it's like, I don't know about this whole country. I don't know. If you weren't a tablecloth in your head, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hilarious. It's a little bit of a mind fuck because, you know, like we're saying, the low probability things can still be scary.

So like the idea of like having a problem. and now you're stuck there for a long time like sure but like if you make fun of the government that's like that's not my thing I'm not a dissident I don't give a fuck about the politics this place yeah that is the gang on gang violence part it's not doesn't affect me right hopefully yeah and you know I always check to see I'm like what's what's going on how many people have been well then like Venezuela they're like they actually are just grabbing just fake arresting a bunch of Americans because they can see America coming at them so like let's have some trading pieces So this hiker said some shit

And you'd be like, what? No, I didn't. Like, yeah, yeah, you're detained. And you're like, oh, actually, it's probably not a safe time to go now. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And yeah, I don't know. But like, I know a bunch of people who have been going and they're like, it's the fucking most amazing thing in the world.

I want to do it. We'll see. It's going to be tough to convince the people of my life. But to go. I'm going to start grooming them when I start deciding because I'm going to do this. What you said? A pass from Middle Eastern, which is a nice little one up, I think. helpful hopefully

all right guys check about not Julio on Instagram and YouTube the YouTube channel watch the videos if you like this kind of shit you'll love you'll love it I mean I think that it's I make some of the best stuff out there

so I think you do thank you man and uh and your good attitude about it and your special is oh yeah it's called on the map on the map and I thank you guys for checking that out too and yeah give it a watch some of the stories I told in here

I have a couple jokes about Iraq and there that are fun nice and you'll like it yeah I guess one last thing There's signs in a lot of the restaurants that say everybody pays for themselves because people are like so generous. They get into big fights about about who's paying and they start screaming each other and they're like, guys, we can't. Because I pay. I'm fucking paying.

So they're like, we don't do this. Everyone pays for themselves. Split checks no matter what. Yeah. That's so funny. Other places like no split checks. Do you know Natalie Akar? Comedian?

Who? Natalie Akar. She's Lebanese. Anyway, she's a comic. And I was like, what does this say? And she's like, it says everybody something and the last word I don't understand. Dan, it's a specifically Iraqi word. And that means whatever that rounds out that thought because it's like a phenomenon.

Wow, that's so funny. That's so funny. And also I got good spa recommendations in Iraq if you're looking to get a good massage and shit. For sure. Is Iraqi massage a thing? No. Dude, as long as you're cool with like a fucking big, thick dude giving it to you, then yes. As long as he's cool with a boner.

It works two ways. Steve was like an Olympic wrestler Slowly push my butt up against Season 4 episode 6 of Sex and the City I don't want to do that But yeah It's a trip of a lifetime so All right damn nice bro

Thank you I appreciate it I fucking ruled All right well that's the episode everybody I hope you enjoyed it Thank you very much Julio Golarotti for coming in again Guys check out our other episode we did

About Afghanistan Which is a great episode Trippia Award nominee from 2020 You should check it out for real. It's carnival season. Full swing here. This is...

Wait, where are we? Where is this? This is Brazil. Yeah, dude, Julio's great. Check out this. He's got a brand new... I mean, the Iraq video, you for sure check out. But he's got a brand new Tanzania.

Video. Went to a small town. Check out local... He just lives right. He's just like, actually, like, looking at shit. small town going through an industrial revolution. He has got like a, he's not just like, this is the food they eat.

He's like, oh, let me actually explore a place. He's doing it, he's doing it right. Julio's doing it right. Check out his YouTube page. YouTube.com slash not Julio because it's Julio. His special on the map is available right now too on his YouTube page, YouTube.com slash not Julio and his Instagram, not Julio on Instagram. He's also going to be at Big Laugh in Fort Worth for two shows. Tickets at nothulio.com.

Well, that's it, you guys. That's the episode. Damn, that is interesting. Iraq. That's one of the far-off places, for sure. Merry Ramadan to all of you. I hope your fast is going well. Do you guys fast? Is that a thing? Whatever you do, I hope it goes well for you. I would like to get to some of these Arab countries. I do have to check what is safe for Jews and what is not safe for Jews. Obviously, it's not the same as what it's safe. Also, what is safe for Americans? Last I heard, they're grabbing hostages in Venezuela

because Maduro is a lunatic. And he wants hostages to be able to trade with the United States in case they come after him. So, not safe for Americans to go to Venezuela. Maybe it's safe for some other people. What else was I going to say?

I'm aware. It's a different idea down here, though. That was a different idea down here. People were like, why is America getting involved? It's funny. When you go further south in Latin America, it goes from like they don't want tourists and then eventually goes to like they don't want American interventionism. The further south you get, they start seeing it for what it is.

The closer you get to Che Guevara's hometown, the closer you get to like, get the fuck out of here already. So they were conflicted. They were like, yeah, he was a dude, but why is it always the U.S. doing it? Why is it always the U.S. doing it? It always seems like you're doing it for the oil. That's what one guy said, Hieranamo in Uruguay. And I'm like, yeah, I sure know he's going to do it for free.

I was just going to do a bunch of charity for free. Then you do it. But also, yeah, I'm sure it'll get destabilized. Like, I always, I was with a worst at it. I don't, guys, I don't know anything about. Why I'm even bringing it up, I don't know anything. Today's episode is by your mom's house network. It's edited by Alan Caffee.

Next week, it's one of two episodes. It's either going to be Brendan Sagalo, Sagdadi, or Fahim Anwar. Brendan Saggolo went to Fiji. That's going to look cool, actually, on tape. You should be checking this podcast out on YouTube. Brendan Salaala goes to Fiji. Fahimah went to Europe when he was like just out of college. Both are good episodes. Depends on if Fahim releases his special by next week or not.

If not, then I'm going to hold this episode back until about May. I've also got a very big announcement coming. For all my fans, not just of this podcast, but of my stand-up comedy. coming in two weeks. In two weeks. And now make that one a big episode. Who should we put on there? Maybe Ari Maddie?

Maybe Bolton bankrupt? Maybe. Oh, Van Nuysdat? Maybe Oliver Trees? Yeah, we got some shoes from. But it's going to be a big one. God, I would like to go to Iraq. Get back on topic.

Alan, keep me on track here. Yeah, I want to go to some of these countries, but it's not, someone that's not safe. Honestly, though, is it really not safe for Jews? Is it really? Have you heard about a Jew being abducted? That guy got his head chopped off. But that was like beginning of Gulf War. That was like beginning of Gulf War.

Anyway, that's it, everybody. Thank you very much for tuning in. Please get a T-shirt. Please subscribe wherever watching the listening. Leave a comment. Tell them how much you like, Giulio. Tell them, by the way. Another Trippy Award nominee for Best Episode already for 2020.

That makes that will make two. I mean, probably he'll make the nomination. It's so interesting the way he travels. That'll make two nominations for Julio Gralrari, but we'll have to wait for nine more months until we find out, 10 more months until we find out. All right, guys, I've got nothing left to say. I'm just meander it.

Get back to your lives. Asalam al-a-l-l-lakem, enjoy your Ramadan. Or, like, have a peaceful one. I got blessed a few times to Allah on this trip. I gave some charity once to some orphanage, and he blessed me to Allah like a million times over. He felt really good. So I'll say this long. I'll say this, this is content.

There's black compliments are an 8 to 1 ratio over white compliments. Let me explain to you what I mean. Me and Mike Cannon, we're walking. We did the egg in Albany or a casino somewhere out there, and near there. And we're walking to go get some food with the opener lady. Oh, so fuck, I forgot her name. Nope, it's not there. She worked with me twice.

Vermont, she worked with me as well. Funny lady. We walked and going to go to stakes, and people, I were at the show because you've got to walk to the casino. And they're like, Ari, you know, that was funny. I was like, oh, thanks, thanks, thanks. We're just want to get some fucking steak, bro. It's comp.

It's my favorite, tight. It's my favorite cut of steak is comp steak. We're like, oh, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks. Let's go, guys, Mike, let's go, let's go. And he's like, I know, we've got to get there. We can't be talking to people. Let's go. And we're like trying to get there.

Listen, I appreciate you. You had a good time. But I'm looking for a free steak, and they're going to close. So if you're a fan, you know how important that is to me. Thanks, I appreciate it. Thanks. And then we walked through the, and there's some black dude with the white chick. It's not about interracial shit.

I don't care. I'm past that. I used to affect me when I was in high school and college. It doesn't bother me anymore. I don't even think twice about it. I did make a mental note of every time to see how far we've come. And he goes, oh, I was at your show. Great job.

Me and Mike. I almost had her name. Stopped. Came back and was like, oh, thanks, man. Gave the guy a handshake. Thanks a lot. That's really cool. You had a good time.

Were you there too? To the wife try to include her. Listen, you're fucking married to a black dude. You're doing your part. I'll do my part to include you. I don't want you to make you feel like, hey, I'm racist. How dare you? No, no, no.

You're welcome. Were you there too? I was. Great job. Okay. Great. I'm going to get a black guy. So you had a good time.

I'm so glad, dude. Thank you so much. Mike Cannon pretty much on one knee. doing the cross in front of them. Thank you so much. This means so much. Eight to one. Eight to one compliment.

Now here's why I say that. A blessing from Allah, eight to one over blessing from Jesus. Allah be with you. Allah praise you to the heavens. Oh, dude? Yes. Oh, I want this.

I want all of this. Jesus loves you. Great, dude. Doesn't he love everybody, though? Doesn't he literally love everyone? everybody. Praise you Allah to the highest. Fuck you.

What? What? To the highest? Oh. That and then I gave some leftovers to a Brazilian guy in, I don't know where. Some town in my house. This is going to look cool. Guys, subscribe wherever you're watching.

You can see fucked up recordings like this one going on pretty much right now. I'm already sure. I'm not professional, but I do take you place. It's carnival season. It'll be over by the time you see this. All right. Thanks, everybody. Asalamayah,

until next week with I got to assume Brendan Sagaloh. And then two weeks, huge announcement. So subscribe, hit the like button, and come back here. It'll also probably be on the Instagram page. Instagram.com slash at U.B. Trippin'Pod. And probably on Instagram.com slash Ari Shapir at Ari Shapir. probably all those plays will have the announcement. But come here and I'll tell you what,

I'll do it here first. I'll do it here first on UB. Tripper. Let's get back to the episode. Oh, no. Goodbye. Until next week. Probably Brendan. Maybe fame.

Who cares? You're going to watch either way.