Influencers in the Wild: How Social Media Changed Travel

Is travel about living in the moment—or capturing it for Instagram? 

In this week's episode, Kevin Burns is back to explore how social media has transformed the way we travel. From influencers staging perfect shots to travelers booking trips thanks to SEO. Expect plenty of laughs, wild personal stories (including concussions and lost souvenirs), and a fresh perspective on what it means to really experience a new place.

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Transcript

It's like, should I be like like filming me like the river boat or should I just be enjoying the wind through my hair through this moment? Do I care to have a video of this? Probably not later. And I enjoy the wind in my hair in this moment more live than I'll ever care about this video later. It's for me. It's not for anyone else. I think one or two good pictures of each important experience per day traveling. It freaks me out that we can screenshot something that happened in real life. How did that If I overthink it too much, it freaks me out. How did we grab this moment and steal it and put it into 2D? I don't know.

[Music] Do you feel confident about where that mic is or should I move it over? Not like more like should the whole thing come over cuz it's it's starting to Yeah, I have no This mic does not affect my confidence either way. Well, it doesn't affect your confidence, but it does affect my personal You said does it affect my confidence? It doesn't Did I say confidence? Yeah. Does this mic affect your is it affecting your confidence? And I said I don't think this mic has anything. My brain is tired. I know. Do you want You should have a little coffee. Do you have your Celsius? Are we rolling? We're rolling this hat. Okay. So, how much time do we have on the the things? 122 degrees. And how will I know when one runs out? So, see how there's a red light? Yeah. The red light means we're rolling. I'm going to Switzerland in the spring. Usually, you're going to Switzerland. I love traveling. Do you enjoy traveling or do you find it a challenge? I find it a challenge. I find it exhausting. But Oh, that's it is exhausting. Yeah. But the the thrill of new experiences, new the novelty seeking that I mean I just I guess it's the um new experience, new places. Uh I don't know. You're talking me out of it. What what what gets you excited about traveling? And why why are you excited about it? Why would you plan the trip? Um I'm not planning it. I'm going along with other. Okay. So, you were invited on the trip. Mhm. Okay. Is it big group or small group? Small. All girls mixed. Yep. Yep. There's two questions there. Um, yeah. I just am It's Switzerland is a location I've always wanted to go to. Are you regretting you brought this up? No, no, not no. I I just don't have like as I'm saying out loud, I'm like, why am I doing this? I don't know. Well, it's an unchangeable ticket. That's why you're doing it. Mostly because Well, it's the most like expensive location in the whole world to go to. Like, it's it is like Yeah. I will be financially crippled for a long time. I'm sorry for this. That stinks. But it is the number one place in the whole world that I've always wanted to go. So it's it is really fun to travel to places that are remarkably cheap or where the dollar is strong. That's Have you ever done that? Well, when I went to when I did go to Paris, I was pleasantly surprised that it was cheaper than I expected. Okay. Going to Spain was cheaper than I expected. Not like it wasn't cheap, right? Like but it was cheaper than to the US. It was probably similar or a little bit more affordable, right, than I was expecting. And yeah, just all of my expenses were it wasn't bad. Yeah. So, but Switzerland is like, "Woo, do I think I'm a rich person or what? What am I doing?" Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. I've been to Switzerland um but not for a long time. When they first went on to the euro back in the early 2000s and it was a weird time because it was the the euro and the dollar were on par. So people things would be priced you would see $1 or one year like it was the same exact price. I actually they might not be that far off now. What's the exchange rate like $125 now? I think and the exchange rate is pretty substantial. So they never went to the euro. You're right. So, what was I? I feel like chat GPT. I'm hallucinating things. You're right. So, what was I what was I thinking of there would be Yeah, you're right. It's a$124. Okay. And how many franks to a dollar? It's one Swiss Frank to 124 US. Oh. Oh, maybe at the time it was like a Swiss a Swiss Frank and a dollar and a euro were all the same price. Maybe all three were a parody. Maybe that's what it was. Anyway, I bought this shirt. Oh, it was really cool. It was like it was maroon red like dress shirt, button-d down dress shirt. It was one of those when the um stretchy material had just come out for like boys clothes and it was I thought it was like so cool. Like, whoa, it's a stretchy dress shirt. And I and I took it and I loved it and I wore it there. And when I got home, I sent it to the dry cleaners. Oh boy. Never came back. No. I think the dry cleaners thought it was awesome as well. That's sad. Yeah. Sorry. So, that was my um my one souvenir from Switzerland. It's out there somewhere. Well, living its best life, I guess. So, so um going to cheap Well, so travel I started traveling when I was like first I think my first trip was pretty simple with my like out of the country was with my parents uh when I was 18. and we went to Cancun for like the weekend. It was super simple. It was a funny trip because my cousin was supposed to join me like so he and I were going to share a room and my parents were going to share a room and uh this is pre 911 so the security was a bit different at the airports and he's like yeah yeah I'm on my way and like he was coming from far away from the airport and we're like okay well the like it's really you're really cutting it close like yeah I'll I'll make it I'll make it I'm on my way just like so we we talked the gate agent the the desk person to checking him in even though he wasn't there. Oh my word. Yeah. And so we we go through security. we get through and uh he's like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way." We're on the plane and they're like paging him like, "Are you here?" And so and so and my my dad, I think, had to get up and be like, "I don't think he's here." And so I don't know if he was like ever coming or if his car broke down. I never really got the full story. So I ended up going and staying by myself in this room with my parents next door. So it was and he never came. It was less fun that that How far away was he to be like He was like a four or five hour trip from the airport. No, I mean like was he like oh two minutes away just missed the door closing or was he just really exaggerating like 25 years ago? I have no idea. Or how much of a liar was he is what I don't know. I honestly don't know. Like I never got more information. This is before social media so I couldn't see him like posting where he really was. But it was pretty funny like like wonder what ever happened that day. What was the real story? Um but yeah, it's weird to think that you just like miss a trip if you just Anyway, so that was my first that was my first um experience traveling internationally and I loved it. Uh even though it was kind of a a misadventure, but yeah, somehow travel became an important part of my life ever since. My family did not travel as a kid. Like we my parents were like home bodies and um they didn't like to go places. In fact, our biggest trip as kids was going to see grandma in Connecticut when we were kids and it was part of Connecticut. Um um that part the one the fancy one. Greenwich. Nope. New Kanan. Nope. It's not a fancy one. What is it? You're just misleading me. The fancy one. Keep naming places. Well, there's Hartford. That's a big city. There's Stamford. No, there's Was it a city or Let's go ahead and move on. Think of it later. If I'm losing interest and I ask the question, I can't imagine the audience. Yeah, cuz Stoen is mass looking out for you. Okay. Anyway. Yeah. So, anyway, every Thanksgiving we'd go to see grandma and that was like, whoa, we're going to Connecticut. Big thrill. That was a big thrill going. And you feel like the thrill paid off like it it it they always made a big deal out of it and it was fun. So, but other than that, we I was unfortunately forced to be a Girl Scout and I hated it and we went camping and I hated camping and I loathe it a lot to this day because of that. So, I feel like somebody needs to fact check me. I feel like the idea for the Scouts started in Connecticut. Maybe even like Lichfield, Connecticut. Really?

Maybe I'm hallucinating again. Anyway, that's what I feel like happened. I feel like it was during the Civil War. Mhm. And they it was like a it was a private school decided to have the kids on summer break hike and camp from like Lichfield, Connecticut down to the shore to help them understand what the troops were going through during the war. Weird. Because that would have been the lifestyle of the troops back then, hiking and camping until you get to battle. And so it was meant to be like this is how hard it is. But they like it was a great experience and that was I think the beginning of the the scouts. Weird. If that's accurate, you will watch this and you'll be like, "Wow, how insightful." If this is not accurate, it will be cut and post and you will never know. No, we're not cutting it. So, well, you can't just like put out a story fake news all the time on this podcast. Uh, hallucination onto the podcast. So, yeah. So, I love traveling. Um, I think I've been to around 42ish countries. Whoa, that's impressive. Fun fact. Um, how many states? The goal is United, you know, I've done a lot of the East Coast and a lot of the West Coast. Texas coming in a little bit. You're from California? Yes. Yeah. Um but I've missed a lot of the middle states and there's a lot especially national parks and things that I'd like to see. Um a dream trip would be to rent or buy an RV and try to do like all all 50 states or all the national parks like over the course of a year like kind of follow the seasons where it would be appropriate to be. I would love to do that. And then and then hope that along the way you just find a place that's like this is where I'm meant to be. Yep. That would be a really fun like that'd be a fun way to find a place and if not then like you just had hopefully a great experience. Or you get murdered in the desert somewhere. Oh. By cartels. Scary things happen in state parks. Yeah. So there's that. Yeah. Life is not Disneyland. It is not. Except for at Disneyland, kids.

It's got dark. This could be a cautionary tale. Yeah. Like if this all happens. Should Should we switch to becoming a murder mystery podcast? Imagine. Oh, imagine I do it and it goes down exactly like that. No. And then you can look back at this episode like in 10 years and be like, "Why didn't we warn him?" Foreshadowing. I don't know about that. Just like kind of witchy. I don't think I don't think this is good. I'm just saying like it's more ironic that I said this is how it would scary. I don't like it. Okay, moving on. Anyway, so yeah, back to um travel and marketing. Social media has really changed the concept of travel and why you travel. So in in my youth, you would travel for the truly for the experience. Yeah. Because nobody wanted to see your pictures. I learned Yes. That's so true. Nobody cared. I didn't know that in the beginning. I thought everybody wanted to see your pictures. So you take a thousand pictures and you're like cool digital pictures slideshow presentation and picture say 74. You look at all your friends and they're all asleep on the couch. You're just like is this done? And you're like maybe I need to talk louder. What's am I not projecting? Are you guys not hearing me? Are you hearing me? Should I start over? No. No. No. Did you not see this angle of Mount Rushmore? Like it's amaz Look at the detail of that nose. It's so accurate. And don't you think they could fit another president in there? No, they were just dying. Um, so yeah, but that's when I realized I was meant for podcasting when I was when I was doing a three-hour presentation of my people should listen to me talk more to wherever I went. Let's turn this from pictures to video. If only I would have gotten in on it earlier. Let's try no pictures, just video. Yeah. Um, no, that's a really good point though. So, with Yeah. With social with social though, now it's about showing off as you go. Yeah. It's a So, go ahead. I apologize. Little Yeah. No, I'm following you. Little snippets of the whole thing as you're going. And I want to and and I'm sorry if I'm interrupting your thought. You're just leading me into this thought. Do you think that that detracts from the experience if you're cur curating an experience for an audience rather than yourself? Yeah, 100%. Because you're you're not in the moment anymore. And so I see this when I travel, uh especially if you're going to like popular places in Italy or whatever, there's lots of uh people that appear to be influencers. if they're not influencers, they're trying to be one or they're definitely like spending their day taking pictures and they're having fun. So, you know, God bless them. They're having a good time on vacation in Italy. Yeah. And that's what you do. And and to be fair, we all do stupid stuff on vacation that we wouldn't normally do at home or whatever. So, this isn't coming across as a criticism, but it definitely changes the experience. You're definitely trying to need to mute that chat. I'm sorry. keep going off. Um, yeah. So, social status with social media that changed how we gain social status obviously because now you're projecting different things out into the world to gain social status and travel would not have really been amongst those things preocial media. You wouldn't like how you traveled and where you traveled wouldn't make wouldn't really give you social status amongst your peers. But now that you can share it live or effectively live on social media. Yeah. Now that's a new way to gain social status amongst your peers. And then that obviously is going to have sort of a a a wag the dog effect of now people are traveling to gain social status. And that's why you see these places that get really popular like, oh, I went there, too. And you know, and they're doing they're doing these selfie shots. Uh it's weird. We went to Cancun and they had these the the the pool beds and there was this girl um having her with her mom and her mom was doing like a photo shoot of her on her by herself on this bed. Like it was just a weird thing to watch and they were there for a long time. Mhm. Like a good part of the morning they were there and for I wouldn't waste my time doing that. I was drinking margaritas in my pool bed. Yeah. Yeah. So we were all wasting time like it's not like I was doing something productive. Such an interesting brings up so many thoughts in my brain because

where do I start with this? Number one, people get very bothered by what they say influencers in the wild. And then there's this other like why are they taking videos of them on the beach? Just enjoy the beach. And then there's this other group of people that are just like who cares? Like let them just if that's what they enjoy doing, let them do it 100%. So my question is um does it does it matter and do you think do you think that it social media detracts from the enjoyment we get from such trips and I'll answer this from my own perspective first if I might and then get your perspective. I it's August now I got rid of my social media in February. Good job. All of them. I have Tik Tok and I've been like occasionally posting on a personal Tik Tok, but I got rid of Instagram completely. I have intentionally 30 Facebook friends. I like scaled it down to people that I cannot contact in any other way. Um, and I barely post on there. But my point is Instagram was the one I was mainly posting on and it would have been the one that I share on my story every day. If I went on a trip, I'd be posting stuff. So since February to now, I've gone on multiple trips. I've gone to many new places. I went to Spain and to France and I didn't post a single no many people don't even know that I went there. And it was it was a little weird truth truthfully going on an international trip and not posting about it. Not even one thing on Instagram. It was a little bit Yeah. changing my like my um habit. Yeah. And I do think there was an element of enjoying it more for myself because I wasn't taking pictures with a view to like people need other people need to see that I'm doing this. I did still take a lot of pictures and videos for myself to bring back home and show my family and my close friends. But because I wasn't doing it with a view to like not that I ever feel like I'm showing off on Instagram, but like there was no social status about it. You were just living it and being you're more in the moment, right? I I think that my and I don't know if this is everyone's experience, but my reason for posting in the past on Instagram is always like I really enjoy sharing my life with people. I don't feel a need to be like, "Are you impressed with me? are do you think I'm cool now? I don't I really feel secure enough in myself that I don't feel the need to get that validation. I just enjoy sharing my life with people. Like look at this exciting thing that I'm doing. Like like I'm I'm I really am excited about the fact that I'm at an aquarium. Look at this awesome fish I saw today. Right. And so to not get to share those things is like a little bit like well it doesn't really matter. But I do enjoy things differently now that I'm not sharing those things. Yeah. So, I'll I'll steal me on my own argument, I guess. Um,

the positive side about all of that, the social media and the influencers and all that is it I believe it got people traveling that wouldn't have previously traveled. M and I think traveling in whatever fashion and style you do it is good for you. It introduces you even in small ways, even if we're looking for the very tourist version of something. Yeah. You're still getting glimpses of other ways of doing things, other cultures. Uh even I mean even on the extreme version of doing a cruise and you just get off the cruise boat for a day or two in different places, you're still getting a couple hours with maybe a local guide or something Yeah. of a different culture where they're going to go back and be like, whoa, like that's totally different than how we do it here. And that's a great experience, especially as a young person in your formative years. Yeah. to kind of open your mind up to different ways of living and have a broader point a broader point of view about the world. So in that way and let's be fair like in no point in history has everybody traveled the same way and done things in the way that everybody thought was the appropriate way you know so the way the Europeans would have traveled when America started coming into its own uh the Americans would have been just so crude and basic in the way that they traveled compared to the Europeans. Mhm. And so it's there's always going to be, you know, the backpacker version versus the the business class people. Yeah. And that's fine. Like and because Yeah. staying in a five-star hotel in the in downtown whatever capital is a very different experience than staying in a local like hostel. Yeah. Or staying with a local family. Yeah. Or camping. Yep. So yeah, they're they're all traveling. They're all experiencing what they feel is their version of a local culture and and I think that's good for good for everybody. Well, and and I think there's always been places that got overcrowded and over popular and damaged because you go all the way back to the 1800s in Egypt and there's, you know, there's effectively graffiti carved into the pyramids of people that were visiting from Europe saying like we were here. Yeah. Yeah. So humans are always going to destroy something. So even saying like, "Oh, look at Instagram is is destroying Positano." Well, it is very popular right now. Yeah. And it's not the same as it was 10 or 20 years ago. But guess what? It wasn't the same 20 or 30 years before that or 20 or 30 years before that. So it's constantly evolving and it will become a victim of its own success. There's a town near us that's that uh is very touristy where I live in in Chile and it's very much a victim of its own success uh because lots of people have moved to that town, Chileans, because they want to have summer houses there. It's still a mecca for international tourists and we personally avoid it in the summertime. Yeah. Because it's just it's traffic and we know there's other places that are better and more enjoyable to be. Yeah. But it's you just have to dig a little deeper. And so the people that want the fivestar experience are still going to go there because that's where those hotels and resorts are. But people that are willing to get a little bit further out of their comfort zone will find those more unique, more authentic experiences still. And the people that stay in the fivestar resort are going to have a great time and the, you know, the volcano will be perfectly framed in their breakfast buffet uh window. So, cycling back to posting on social because you don't have any social media. Do you So, you obviously don't feel a need to post on social media when you're traveling. Do you still enjoy taking pictures and videos when you're cuz you travel a lot and if you do, what is your purpose? Yeah. Um, we take a few pictures. We try to especially on days where you're doing something sort of adventuresome. So the the peak moment of that day, we try to do a picture. Um our rule is kind of not to take a picture without somebody in it. Okay? Like not to just do landscape scenery pictures because when you look at it later on, the thing that's going to be most interesting is looking back at yourselves in that scene as as time goes on, as age goes on, as people come and go in your life or people die. Okay? Like the scene is the scene. You can buy a postcard. That's a good point. So, always include that. My my aunt told me that uh a long time ago because I used to do, you know, I'm just going to take the perfect like frame this little thing perfectly. Like put somebody in the shot. Yeah. And you'll value that picture five years later cuz in 5 years you might not even remember where that shot was, right? Like it was some plaza in Madrid. Like Yeah. Like when what year was it? What trip was it? But when you have people and you're like, "Oh, that was that trip." because maybe you'll end up going there more than once. That's a really great point. Yeah, I love that thought. Yeah. So, yeah, that was a good um and so in that way the influencers nail it. They always put themselves in the picture. Yes. So, they nail it the influencers. So, it's good. I I guess I'm on board with the influencers because they're influencing people to travel. Do you believe that taking videos, pictures, but really videos like ruins the moment of things?

Not at all. But I'm I'm not all about staging a big production. Yeah. I mean, I think if you're staging a photo shoot, that is the moment that that's the moment you're enjoying. If you're just taking a picture, you're just stealing a moment from that from that other experience. Say that one more time. If you just take a quick picture, Yeah. like everybody stand here. Quick picture. you just stole a little you just freeze framed stole a little moment from whatever that experience was versus if you're setting up a photo shoot and spending an hour doing getting the perfect shot that is your like what did you do today like I did a photo shoot and that's beautiful like good for you there's a difference though I hope it accomplishes whatever your purpose was that's a really good way to look at it like good good I've struggled there's some I and I don't hear this as much anymore but There used to be something that people would say, especially when you go to concerts for instance, where people get really worked up and like, "Stop taking videos. It's it's you're never going to look at them again and you're just enjoy the experience." And I feel conflicted about that mentality because I think for me in a lot of experiences and at some concerts, I don't believe in filming the whole concert. Um, I do like taking videos at concerts. Um, I do watch them back later and I paid a lot of money to be to be here and I want to take something home from it. Um, and that is my way of enjoying it is getting is getting a snippet from it. Um, but I have found balance throughout the years of being like, okay, I don't need to record a clip from every single song, right? I can get one here. I can get 30 seconds here, 30 seconds here, and then watch the rest without anything. So, from a marketing point of view, I kind of fall on the other side. I wish I think when I go to concerts, I it's a really like concerts to me are really powerful live experiences. Really enjoy them. And I and I I have done it both ways. Mhm. In the early days, I would record and find that A, it did take away a little bit from the moment. Mhm. And B, reliving it later felt like very hollow, like it wasn't a tenth of what that moment. Oh, for sure not. Right. So, I I wish I could communicate this to touring bands. I feel like the solution to this is at the end of the tour, like everybody that has a t a ticket, they get the professionally shot live recording of that night's concert. Like, don't do it early. Like, wait till the tour ends so that way you're not releasing, you know, and it's going to get spread around the internet. But once that tour is done and it's all wrapped up, like give everybody the professionally shot version of that that uh concert to relive. Taylor Swift Shift did that. Did she? Yeah. Oh, and hers was a three-hour long, right? Yeah. As it should be. And it's an incredible production. But did she release every night or just It was a compilation or I imagine it was a compilation of the tour, right? I don't I don't I don't really know actually. So, some bands um record every single concert. They have a crew that records every concert. Mhm. And I think that would be just like, yeah, just take that even a director's cut, like don't even worry about editing it all down. Just like put it all in there. Y and let people enjoy it. And that way you have your concert cuz things happen specifically at your event, things that were said, right? Yeah. Yeah. So for me, it's nice to see the tour. Okay, that's one thing. But to be at the exact one that I went to, I would like that. That would be like what? One time I went to a um a Sting concert way back and it happened to be a night where he was recording a DVD. So that was cool. They're like, "Oh, by the way, we'll send you all like a DVD or whatever it was. I can't remember how they got it to us." Oh, I think we had to send our ticket stuff into an address. Okay. And then they would mail us back. That's amazing. Yeah. The DVD of that night's concert. And that was his thank you for putting up with the extra cameras that might be blocking certain angles at certain times. Okay. Whatever. So, I thought that was like So, that's kind of where the idea came from. Like, yeah, if you're already recording it, and most bands aren't going to be releasing these recordings ever, like this is going to the archives. Mh. Like, give a give or do it that way, like make them request the make the person request it if they don't just want to send it out. But now with digital media, like you could just email it to these people so easily. Yeah. Anyway, and wouldn't that solve the the the recording camera? Cuz some bands get really upset about it. like they they want that because they want to interact with the audience and when all they're looking at is cameras like that's affecting their interaction with a live audience. I went to a Coldplay concert once many years ago where he said to everybody in the and it was at Gillette Stadium. It was massive. Just like everyone just for this song, just for this song, can everyone put their phone away and just be with me for just this song? And you know, looking throughout in all of Gillette Stadium. Um, obviously there were people that still had their phone because that's the one song that you want to record because it's going to be special. Because it's going to be special. And why is it special? Because everybody's in the moment now. Yeah. But, you know, I think more people than not. I you know obeyed his wish and put their phone away and it and it was it was special because no one was. Now what if he would have said and I will send you all this the recording of this song to your inbox. I still think people would be recording it. Certain people people are always going to be contrarian and but that's okay. a few people, you know, you know, but anyway, I thought that was a nice way to be like not like I don't know. Anyway, heavy-handed, but but not even just with concerts with all with experiences in general. Uh, you know, I was thinking about being on a a tour boat on the sin like in Paris like you did this. Yeah. Tell me about it. Well, we we got a ticket that So, tell me about the marketing that got you to do that. Well, we were looking for ways to travel through Paris. And this is from here or you were in France already? When we're already in So, you're in France and you're like, I want to do something fun. Yeah. You're online. And so, there's tour buses that you can take throughout Paris to see. And then there's as Americans, we're sort of like bus averse. I go to the buses. It It's not even that. It's like we were looking for what was the most like made sense cost effective. And the to boat of this of all of the sin is like you can get on get off. And so it had kind of a dual effect where we could tore the whole river and at the same time it worked as a taxi for us to get on. Okay, we're going to get off this stop, go see where Marian Twinette was executed kind of thing. That's that's tragic and sad and cool. Okay, back on we get the boat. For some reason, I want a muffin right now. You know, a little cake. Anybody? And is a is a is a muffin just a head-shaped piece of cake. Is that what that inspired

you think? Not seem appealing. A scone,

but yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. So, he decided because it felt um it was a good use of time, a good use of money, and it's a little more romantic the than the bus. You get to get on the river on and off. You jumped on and off the river cruise. Is that what is that? Yeah. And so that sounds fantastic. Was there food and drink on this river cruise or just get on and get off? Is it more fun? No. I mean, they had um uh vending machines, but Yeah. So, and how did you find it? You were just online and you saw an ad or you saw their website or something? So, it must have been SEO because it popped up when we were searching for There you go. ways to tour. So, somebody nailed it. Somebody nailed it. Somebody nailed it. Cuz there there was many options, but they were And what made you pick this? Was it price? Was it there? Was it their um images? I think it was the I think it was the price and I think it was the being on the river sounded the most right fun and it got us it it took us to every tourist location. Right. it, you know, it start we got on, we were staying near the Eiffel Tower, our Airbnb was, and so we just got, we walked there, we got on the Eiffel Tower location, and went just and got off every stop that saw, you know, Notredam and then we got back on, you know. So, how's the rebuilding going, by the way? Is it done? It was not done. How dare they? Um, but it still looked cool. Churchish. Churchy. Looks like a church. Did you go inside? No. Is it not open to go inside yet? Who knows? I didn't check, right? Cuz you're cruising by. Yeah. So, interesting. Yeah. So, yeah, there you go. So, you have uh

But I think I was starting to say um you know that there's those moments like should I be like like filming me like the river boat or should I just be enjoying the wind through my hair through this moment? And it's like there's just moments that I had to kind of decide like do I care to have a video of this? Probably not later. And I enjoy the wind in my hair in this moment more live than I'll ever care about this video later. It's for me. It's not for anyone else. So, I think I think one or two good pictures of each important experience per day traveling is if you get if you get three pictures every day of your travel, I think it's a good summary of what you did. I'm a person that and this is what I do for work and for hobby. I love pictures and videos. I love them and I look through them in my off time. I love looking back through many, many years of from when I was a baby all the way to last week. I love looking through old pictures. Nostalgic. Yeah, I love the looking through other people's pictures. I just love It's kind of creepy. It freaks me out that we can screenshot something that happened in real life. How did that If I overthink it too much, it freaks me out. How did we grab this moment, right, and steal it and put it into 2D? I don't know. I think a long time ago in Africa, they thought you were stealing their soul when you took their picture. It's I I can see why they thought that if you paid them, they would still let you do it. You can have my soul for a price. Everything has a price. I mean, I feel like that was probably like on some western movie version of Africa that I probably learned that. It was a long time ago. But nevertheless, nevertheless, we'll check that. If it's true, you will get to enjoy it. If it is not true, you will never know. You're giving me so much fake news to put in. So much editing. Oh my god. Yeah. Fake news. Yeah. Fake information. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, can we cut something into yesterday's podcast about um chat GBT? Super. You asked me about my chat, GPT search, and I feel like I gave you kind of a soft answer, like not very interesting. Okay. Yeah. Oh, uh, what's in your chat? Yeah. Yeah. What's in your chat, Kevin? I'm glad you asked. So, uh, I use it for a really interesting project. Well, okay, cut. Ask again. What's in your chat, Kevin? Man, I'm so glad you asked me that. So, uh, a few months back and, uh, I was I read a a Wall Street Journal article about this older gentleman who had never taken care of his his skin and his his face was looking older than he was. He was in his 70s, I think. Okay. And he was just not looking good, he said. And so, he just took it. He's like, I'm going to really dive into this skin care thing. He went to dermatologist and got like the ideal skinincare routine for his situation and did it for three or four months or six months or whatever it was and they showed the before and after like remarkable okay remarkable difference and he even like said what the routine was and so I took that article pasted into chat GPT and then explained my like skininc care history or lack thereof and said you know basically like I'd like to accomplish something similar. Okay. and even gave it like my budget and said like, "Can you design a skincare routine for my situation that would give me a similar result to this article and and what his was?" Okay. And give me the very best case version and then give me the version that cost X amount per month. Okay. And it did it and it even gave you like the links to Amazon to be able to do it. Amazing. It was really cool. I'm curious what the umre biggest ingredient it recommended was. And if it was ceramides, I don't recall. Peptides were definitely involved. There was peptides. Ceramides have changed my life. There was another thing. Um, hang on. We're going to pause this. Okay. Actually, while you're pausing, I'm going to talk about ceramides. Camides. I've had bad skin my whole dry skin. Like, I literally came out of the womb with flaking skin. Literally. Literally, literally. And my whole life I've had the worst dry skin. It's been terrible. And then I discovered and I think it was because of chat. Ceramides and now I don't have dry skin anymore. Wow. Yeah. Ceramides. What is it? Do you know what it is? Like it's in it is a certain ingredient like peptides that is in certain um so Korean skincare is where it's at. Tip, right? Yeah. Um, and it's in a lot of Korean skincare and face washes and lotions. And so, um, Sarah Bay, yep, that's a brand that was recommended. Sarah has camides. All of them like as a brand or I think so. Has the most maybe that's why it's Sarah. That's the Sarah part of the Carave. Yep. So, yeah, it recommended um Sarave cleanser foaming oil. Yep. AM and PM as the like to wash because I guess other cleansers can be too harsh and take off too much of your natural oils. Yeah. So that was one. Uh minimalist vitamin C. Okay. Once a day. Okay. And then Cave mineral SPF 50. Okay. I think the mineral bit was important. Okay. Uh the ordinary copper peptides. Do that a couple times a week. Okay. Not every day. Yeah. So you got the vitamin C and the peptides are the two sort of oil things that you put on. Uh Cave skin renewal night cream. Yep. And then two or three nights a week uh retinoid. Okay. Which is sort of like a peel. A retinol. Yeah. It it kind of strips away. Yeah. Which you got to be careful with that. Also ret retinol makes you more sensitive to the sun. So make sure you sunscreen your face. Yeah. So they they do that at night. But yeah, it was an interesting uh I haven't actually been doing it. I just got the stuff recently. I think it will work. I should have done it before and after. I feel passionate about skinare. Camides. Ceramides. Mhm. Anyway, there you go. So, it was I guess I don't know if it was marketing that got me to that though because I I the chat did the right. base of that started from a Wall Street Journal article. Nice. And then I guess if there's a marketing aspect to it, it would have been that chat GPT was able to search these products, right? So they were available on a chat GPT accessible site. Everything on the internet is sometimes it's not so good at finding but it's on like so chat GPT has tendencies, right? It's good at searching Wikipedia. It's good at searching Reddit. It's good at searching well, in this case, Amazon. So, it seems to have better access or has tendencies of where it searches. So, I guess for marketers out there, uh, make sure you understand where these LLMs tend to search first because they don't do a full internet search every time, right? On lighter searches, they're going to just go to their go-to sites just like we do. We have our go-to like, well, I'm going to check Amazon first. Mhm. But but there might have been a much better product on a direct site that you just never got to. Same thing with an LLM. Like they're not going to waste all the energy in the world looking for your skinincare routine, right? Unless you're very persistent. Yeah. So, okay. Any Oh, did you have what about you? I feel like there's a lot of your eight concussions. Are you're getting antsy. Do you want to go? I feel like you're I just have to pee a little bit and also Bill's going to want to get lunch, but I can quickly recap my eight concussions. Um, don't do it quickly. Um, first one was when I was a child. I was sledding and I went down a hill. Sledding. Incredibly dangerous. Yeah. Right. And I was You can't even steer these things. I was with my middle to oldest brother and um we crashed into ice. I hit my head on ice and I lost my memory for a day and a half. Like all the memories? Yeah. Like I didn't know who I was kind of thing. Like that bad. Yeah. amnesia. So, you didn't even go to the hospital, right? I did not. You just walk it off. It was the 90s, baby. Let's go. And that then ruined the rest of my life. Um because what made it better cuz who knows what dumb things you would have done with a regular brain. Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Yeah. Um and you could have been a meth head if you hadn't done that. A few years later, I then um was at a rope swing and which had a a wooden seat and my brother I was in the water and he swung it out to me and hit me in the head with it and it had like a big wood seat. The wooden thing hit me in the head. I passed out in the water. I went into shock. My siblings, not knowing what to do, just dragged my shockless body out of the water, brought me home. My sister was having a party at home. It was Anyway, so I was in shock. You seem you seem to stun like when you I do. I get stunned. Then third one with the third like a lizard on their back. Wait for the third one. It's exciting. Third one was when I was maybe like 19. I was surfing. Surfboard uh was still attached to my ankle. Wave came up and brought the surfboard, hit me in the back of the head, passed out in the water, went into shock. Uh the very funny thing about that story is I was with my sister and one of my friends. My friend, a little bit boy who cried as wolf was always screaming about stuff and her husband was on the the beach and she was screaming for him. Jason screaming for him. He wasn't reacting. He was not reacting cuz Carrie's just always screaming. So, she's trying to drag my body out of the ocean and he's just not paying attention cuz she's always screaming. So, that was the third. Um, two winters in a row I fell down the stairs and hit my head on the stairs. Um, you didn't use your hands to stop yourself. I don't know. Sixth one was I was in a car accident cuz you had a concussion before, correct? Sixth one was in um I think 2018 2017. I was in a really bad car accident where I hit a telephone pole and flipped a car. And um that time I didn't even hit my head on anything. The whiplash from flipping the car was so bad I hit hit your skull against your brain. At this point, you probably concuss easily. So yeah, when you have enough, you keep having more concussions. Um and then while I still was concussed with that concussion. Um because I was concussed, I was not I was concussed. I was at a party a month later and I was sitting underneath a tree and I stood up into a branch. Um Oh my god. And I hit my I lost vision in one of my eyes. First of all, that's a really low branch. Yeah, it was it was a very low branch. It was a very low branch of tree. Yeah. Are you sure you weren't hiding in a bush? What's happening here? Yeah. Well, and that's part of the reason I didn't see it. I'm like, why is his cr so stinking low? Why am I The real story is you were peeing in a bush and you stood up. So, yeah, hit my head on that. And getting a concussion within a concussion, wildly dangerous, can kill you. Like, so so dangerous. So, I lost vision, one of my eyes. I was hysterically laughing out of control. Like, it was bad. I did go to the hospital for that one. Uh, and then maybe a year later was running in the rain with a dog trying to get into the house and there was like this metal like lean to thing. Oh boy. Clocked my head on it. Good grief. So I think that's eight. Anyway, so I've been to physical therapy, occupational therapy, all these therapies and the therapists have all told me you've probably had more than eight. These are just as many as you've been diagnosed with. Um, the more you have, the more you have. Don't brush your hair too hard. Don't brush your hair too hard. That was the joke. That was the joke of my physical therapist. Just be careful brushing your hair. Wowzers. So, yeah. Anyway, get to know the team member, Kevin. Which team member? I had a pet deer named Clyde. Oh, definitely Maddie. Nope. How dare you? How dare you? I went into that with such confidence. Um, pet deer named named what? Clyde. Oh, a boy deer. Not a dough. A deer. I don't know. I wasn't there.

Remote or in person? In person. All the kind of hybrid. This is a hybrid. You feel like you favor in person in these games? I don't favor anyone. I have requested everyone companywide in the world to send me information about themselves and only certain people have cooperated. Oh, I see. I've um on on some past versions of this where you where you're doing it with other people. I'm playing it at home, right? And a couple of them obviously nobody guesses first. Like it's always like 25 guesses. I'm like, "Oh, please just tell us." But so but I'm also thinking a couple of times I felt like I was being gaslit and thinking like is it me? Like was I a lifeguard? I feel like that feels like that would be me. I grew up in California. Like who who else would that be? Is she making this up? Like what did I not remember this? And there's a couple other ones where I was also thinking like that that kind of sounds like I would have done that. Like I felt like I was like I should have and I didn't get even get guessed. So, you only recently sent me facts about yourself. So, I thought I s I sent a solid list. You did, but only recently, right? And I can't use facts about you to yourself. Although, maybe I could cuz I always think Did you ever have a pet deer named Clyde? No, I don't think so. Um, Bill. No, he likes to shoot deer. He does. I thought that's maybe where that was the origin story. Maybe the pet pet deer Clyde was like it's Tim. There's a couple of deer shooters here. Okay. Um Tim. No. Boy or girl? The person. It's a female. It's not Ann. Anna. You got it. Yeah. Anna. Sorry. Sorry. Anna. It's cuz it's not Anna Lyn. So I was like Ann. It does. Yeah. Anna and Anna. It was Anna. You got it. Look at that. Yay. And what do I win? You don't win anything. Yesterday's t-shirt. Yesterday's t-shirt. Bragging rights. Yeah. By the way, we did not film a podcast yesterday that was filmed many months ago. Many weeks ago at the other time that I was many weeks ago. Well, they do that like on um Prices Right and stuff. They'll film like multiple episodes in a day like one after another. Right. Or even late night shows, same thing. Like they'll film a bunch of shows in a row. Yeah. I have to pee so bad. So, we're gonna go now. Thanks for being here. What's the longest you've ever held it? Actually, on the trip on the plane, I was in not on the aisle and I was felt like I was going to die and I hel it was a stranger and I was like, I'm going to hold this as long as I can. And then it got to a point after a couple hours where I was the international flight. I'm like, I'm going to die if I don't make this lady get up. So, I have a I have a fun story where about having I'll give you 20 seconds. Go to the bathroom. because uh I had to drive a long ways to to Long Island, like an hour and a half. Normally, it's an hour. There's a lot of traffic and it was it was going to a meeting that had a certain start time and I was supposed to start the meeting. Oh. So, I was like, "Oh man, we're going to" and we ended up arriving just like 3 or 4 minutes late. So, I but I had to go the whole time to the bathroom really bad. Like, I had a coffee right before and I'm like, "I got to." But then we were arriving late. So, I got focused on like starting the meeting on time and but once I'm starting the meeting, like I'm involved and I can't leave, right? And so, I ran in thinking like, start the meeting, it's already 5 minutes late. And I did that forgetting about the bathroom. Oh boy. And the meeting is an hour long. Oh boy. So, the whole time just like crying, crying like it's coming out of my eye like and I don't know why. like I was young and oh the problem was the the way the meeting was set up the bathroom was like right next to oh it's even worse the platform area and it was like a small room and it was like a thin door so I knew like if I had to pause the meeting everybody be like listening like wow like that Austin Powers moment where he's like he's done no yet so the hour goes by I I endure oh I run to the bathroom like I'm feeling like you right now I run to bathroom, shut the door, and and it's all going good. Like, oh, like that feeling when you really have to go and you're finally going, it's like the most amazing relief in the world. And like I kind of like put my head back in like in a sigh of relief. And the pants that I had on are those old style pants where there's like um where it's like it's a buttonfly. So, that took a long time, too. Buttonfly, but it's like a double button. Like say you fold it over and there's a button there and then it folds over and there's a button there and then there's a big leather stiff belt. Okay, so everything's going well. This is way more than 20 seconds. And then then when I I like heads back like oh this is so nice the belt flops over and I just I just stop hearing the sound of urine hitting the water but I still feel like I'm going. I'm confused. I'm like, "What's happening?" By the way, these are like cream colored pants. I have Oh my god. And I looked down. I'm like, "Oh my god, just

so it was You're going to

And there was like a little buffet of snacks.

[Applause] [Laughter] I come out and the and the little the older ladies that are there are like, "We made you your favorite snack." Like, "I can't go to the buffet." I sit down at the piano like right and they're like, "Why don't you want your favorite snack? I can't tell you." They're like, "You want us to bring you your snack?" I'm like, "Okay, bring take that cake." Oh, man.

I could never wear those pants again.

Was this like last week?

It was amazing. It was an amazing experience. It was worth it. [Laughter] It was like right up there with the Indian wedding that I missed. Like best moments.

I hope you make it to the I was going to say I don't think I can talk about this anymore.

Okay. Thank you so much for being here. Kevin's Pee Stories. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I should record you running in case it doesn't make it.