From Truck Stops to National Parks: James Hammond's Epic Road Trip

Forrest Kelly: 00:00:00

Pack your bags, let's take a ride. 5 minutes fly and we'll explore the wide with forest. Kelly, it's travel time. It's the best five minute travel podcast. Let's go.

Forrest Kelly: 00:00:14

Okay, so when you're planning America, well.

James Hammond: 00:00:17

We sort of planned not the quickest route back, but maybe the most efficient just because of time. New York and Boston, we visit them, but going across, we're like, well, the i95 kind of goes across quite nicely.

Not at the top of the border but not too far south. So actually it was based on that road. So wherever we came across on that road we'd see. So we did see Mount Rushmore. We saw Devil's Tower in Wyoming.

That's quite interesting. Went to Deadwood, a Yellowstone I mentioned before.

And then we cut across a little bit south into Northern California to go to Redwood national park and worked our way up the 101 back to Vancouver.

Forrest Kelly: 00:00:53

Yeah, the Redwood National Forest. That's something to behold, isn't it?

James Hammond: 00:00:57

Oh, it's unreal. I'm probably one of the most incredible places I've been to.

Forrest Kelly: 00:01:01

And then on the, on the other side of that, what did you think? The American truck stops, you know, I loved them.

James Hammond: 00:01:07

Yeah.

Forrest Kelly: 00:01:07

Yeah, you did. How so?

James Hammond: 00:01:10

Because it was a choice of two, the truck stops or Walmart. And I found Walmart a bit sketchy sometimes because you don't know who's going to hang around at night. Not the quietest place either.

But the truck stops, they're designed for truckers, right. So you have huge space. They've got putting facilities you can use like a toilet, shower, probably some vending machines and you're not out of place.

Everyone's there to sleep and drive next day, which we were doing. So I actually really enjoyed them.

And towards the second half of the US trip, we really got into it like we'd had three nights at truck stops and then probably one night at a campsite just to freshen up. So yeah, I really enjoyed them, loved them.

Forrest Kelly: 00:01:46

I always look forward to, you know, when I'm on that stretch of highway because you can find anything and everything. You could just about get a wedding gift for somebody and then you can get some kind of deep fried food that you never thought was available.

James Hammond: 00:01:59

Yeah, absolutely. All the amenities are incredible because the country is designed for driving. Right. So yeah, it's much easier there than Canada.

Canada was a bit more of a struggle. For that.

Forrest Kelly: 00:02:07

I put in top five travel must haves. So when you're going to. On this trip, was there five things that you said we got to take these.

James Hammond: 00:02:15

Okay. So these are things to take so I can rattle some off for you. Number one is Imodium.

Forrest Kelly: 00:02:21

Okay. And does it work? One.

James Hammond: 00:02:23

First of all, it does for me.

James Hammond: 00:02:25

Okay.

James Hammond: 00:02:25

And it's crucial because I have a bad stomach. So.

Forrest Kelly: 00:02:28

Yeah, and you're. Because your staple food that you're getting in England is different when you're traveling across all these different places. So. Okay.

James Hammond: 00:02:34

Yeah, but I think actually USA is pretty safe. But if we're talking travel as a whole, like this trip I went to in Central America, 100%.

Number one is Imodium, just in case the bacterias aren't great or whatever. So.

Forrest Kelly: 00:02:46

Yeah, I've never taken that. You take it before you eat or you just take it continuously throughout the day or.

James Hammond: 00:02:51

No, it's a reactionary medication. So if I feel like I'm getting some diarrhea, it's a bit, you know, it's a bit in depth here. But if I get some.

If I get some diarrhea, then I know I need to take some Imodium because that could carry on for hours.

Forrest Kelly: 00:03:05

Okay. All right, moving on. All right, we started at the bottom, but actually that was the number one. So then. Then where would. Where do we go?

James Hammond: 00:03:12

Number two, I have loop earplugs.

Forrest Kelly: 00:03:15

Okay, this is interesting. Loop earplugs. Now what is that?

James Hammond: 00:03:19

Yeah, they are fitted earplugs that go into your ears. And I suffer from light noise. You know, like if stuff can wake you up pretty quickly, so I need to block out all noise.

James Hammond: 00:03:28

Okay.

James Hammond: 00:03:29

Number three, I would have probably my San UK flip flops.

James Hammond: 00:03:36

And now are those the traditional flip flops or like we call them slides here? Where.

James Hammond: 00:03:41

Okay.

Forrest Kelly: 00:03:41

Where they don't go between your toes, they're more of a slide.

James Hammond: 00:03:45

They do go between your toes, but they are. These specific ones are yoga mat material, so they have very soft material on the bottom of your feet.

Forrest Kelly: 00:03:53

Okay. And those are good just because you're doing a lot of walking.

James Hammond: 00:03:56

And yeah, number four is going to be a bit of tech, so I'm going to go with my Zoom H6 interface.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:04

And for those not in the industry, that's a handheld recorder. Digital recorder, yes.

James Hammond: 00:04:11

And the reason being. The reason you said about picking up those sounds. But also I can use it to interview. I can also use it just to generic sounds.

If I'm just walking down the street, I can just hold it by the side and just have it record whatever that sound is. So I do a lot of audio immersive episodes So I need sounds.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:27

Okay, last one on the list.

James Hammond: 00:04:29

Last on the list. The pressure is on and I'm going to say I'm actually going to go. My Kindle.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:36

Wow. A bit of old school technology here.

James Hammond: 00:04:38

I love to read.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:39

Okay, so you're. You pre download some books and.

James Hammond: 00:04:43

Yeah, because I think reading is a good way to pass some downtime whilst traveling and not be on your phone scrolling on social media.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:50

James, last book you read was what I'm currently reading.

James Hammond: 00:04:53

I'm still yet to finish. This is going to be a bit, bit boring.

I'm reading a book on a former British prime minister called Clement Attlee and his life in politics and after the war. So he was.

I don't go too much into detail, it might bore your audience, but Winston Churchill, who we all know he was voted out instantly after the war by Clement Attlee. So he won a big majority and that's about him and why he won.

Forrest Kelly: 00:05:19

Okay, I think we can hear the crickets. Yeah, on that. Okay, how about travel safety tips? You kind of touched that on number one on the list. And last one, Imodium.

But travel safety tips that you've got to be, you know that you recommend when traveling.

James Hammond: 00:05:34

Yes, I would also have on your phone. IPhone's great for this is find location.

Make sure you switch that on and connect it to a family laptop or your partner's laptop or partner's phone just so they know where you are.

Forrest Kelly: 00:05:47

In our next episode with James Hammond of Winging It Travel. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah, that's some sound advice and very easy to do.

James Hammond: 00:05:56

Yep. Take seconds.

James Hammond: 00:05:57

All right, go ahead.

James Hammond: 00:05:59

Safety I would never wear.

Forrest Kelly: 00:06:02

We've touched down and landed. The episode's done with five quick minutes of travel and fun.

Forrest Kelly: 00:06:09

This is your captain speaking.

Forrest Kelly: 00:06:11

We have touchdown. That completes this episode.

Forrest Kelly: 00:06:14

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