Globe Trekker fans unite! Megan McCormick is back
Episode 1
October 16, 2025
In Episode 1, the longtime hosts of the TV travel series Globe Trekker / Lonely Planet reunite. Ian, Justine, and Megan meet after 20 years to talk about what it was like to have the most amazing job in the world. Their conversation ranges from how they got the job that changed their lives, to monkey bites, near-death experiences, unexpectedly spicy chili, and the Bollywood star Jackie Shroff.
0:00 - Megan’s back!
7:29 - West India: Megan’s first show
15:05 - “Who goes to a Rat Temple?”
20:20 - Street food: “Definitely don’t go for the chili!”
27:26 - Megan in the market: mob justice and haggling
33:44 - Ian Cross kept us on (miraculously)
40:05 - Perilous moments: “Bit up the ass by a monkey”
49:13 - The cinematographers: “They were psychos, really.”
53:17 - Ian Wright or Ian McKellen?
58:00 - “Pathologically friendly”
01:00:49 - Prepare in advance…? Nah.
01:03:55 - “I’m with Jackie.” Jackie Shroff then and now.
01:11:03 - Death doula: What’s Megan doing now?
01:19:25 - Farewell, there’s more coming…
Listen on your favorite platform
Episode Cast & Crew
Hosts: Ian Wright and Justine Shapiro
Guest: Megan McCormick
Producer: Fuwad Ahamad
Editor: Gregory Scharpen
Sound Mix: Dan Olmsted
Kuku Studios, Berkeley, California USA
Haverhill Music Hub, Haverhill UK
Major Funding
Season 1 was made possible thanks to a grant from The Khosravi Family Trust.
Our Loonies
Mrugesh Thaker
Joseph Tindle
Prateek Shrivastava
Raveev
Mike Matera
John Miles
Nikhil Patel
Saurabh Chaudhary
Heather Munro
Craig Richardson
Joe Guzman
Robert Paul
Bhavika Gadhvi
Richard Logan
Ignacio Gil
Abigail
Era Orozco
About the Guest
Megan McCormick
As one of the main hosts of the award-winning series Globe Trekker, Megan McCormick spent years exploring cultures around the world and witnessing how people everywhere find meaning in both life and death. From funerals in Ghana to rituals in India, her travels revealed that there is no single way to understand mortality—only the shared human longing to make sense of it. That realization became the heart of her work today.
As a trained death doula, hospice volunteer, and founder of Hurley House in the Catskills, Megan is devoted to helping people face the often-avoided but inevitable topic of death. Through her forthcoming documentary series Dead Serious, she invites honest conversations about dying, grief, and care—believing that when we confront death with open eyes, we remember how to live and love one another more fully.
Megan credits Ian Cross and Pilot Productions for shaping her storytelling journey, her mother for the map on the wall and the National Geographic subscription that sparked her wonder, and the countless people she met while traveling whose stories opened her heart. She’s grateful to Ian and Justine for once again leading with honesty, curiosity, and humor that makes even difficult conversations feel like an adventure.
With love to her daughter, filmmaker Rie Aldous, for their unforgettable journey to India and for carrying the generational torch with courage and vision—and to her son, Laszlo, for his grounded wisdom, humor, and reminder that every good story begins and ends with love.
Season 1 Credits
With gratitude to those from Pilot Films and Television, UK who helped create Our Looney Planet
Ian Cross, founder of Pilot Productions and creator of the Lonely Planet / Globe Trekker TV series.
Deb Marrow Cox
Anne Bogart
Sarah Blinco
Sanyukta Shrestha
Helen Roberts
Richard Howard
Chris Hampson
Amanda Kramer
Ian Ritchie
Neville Farmer
Megan McCormick
Emma Cahusac
Angela Gourley
Rachael Heaton-Armstrong
Andy Margetson
Lucy Cooke
Bini Adams
David Tibballs
Saami Sabiti
Nick Robbins
Nigel Kinnings
Lynn Mitchell
Georgie Burrell
Neil Harvey
Simon Niblett
Ian sciacaluga
Rik Lander
Peter Boyd Maclean
Tim Knight
With gratitude
Rachel Mercy Simpson, Berkeley Community College
Interns: Seungjun Kim, Martin Mercy, Matan Ziv, Manny Cox
Betsy Rate, UC Berkeley School of Journalism
Interns: Negar Ajayebi, Alicia Chang, Zane Karram and Fuwad Ahamad
Rob Burchell, The Hall Media Facilities, UK
Honorbarre.com
Cardiowithcarah.com
The Center for Creative Exploration
Jeanette McDonald-Wright
Rie Aldous
Jackie Shroff
Tony & Chesney Mumford
Marvin and Mr. Monk
Paul Mourey & Karim Crippa
David Orelowitz & Lauren Heymann
Vicente Franco
Jim Capobianco
Lucy Kaplan
Mateo Evaristo Shapiro Bolado
y Carlos Bolado
Tony Cataldo
Carah Herring
Année Kim
Stephanie Mackley
Marcia and Paul Masse
Paul Zaentz
Chaz Blanc
Michael Wilson
Mick Erausquin
Elizabeth Gray
Catherine Girardeau
Jason Reinier
Roopa Ramamoorthi
Laura O'Brien Crisp
Guy Reingold
Esme Agilar
Sonia Mistry
Sherry Sly
Claudia Erzinger
With Gratitude To Those We’ve Lost
Jonathan Leffman, Sound Recordist
Stephen Luscombe, Composer
Paul Pierre Standifer, Fixer/Producer
Leslie Weiner, Producer
Roger Whitby, Sound Recordist
Nick Corey Wright, Director
Arno
For MATLANA
Executive Producer: Justine Shapiro
Series Producer: Liliana Cortés
Producer & Editor: Gregory Scharpen
Producer & Editor: Thomas Lorne
Producer: Stephen Lennhoff
Title Animation - Zazie Capobianco, Aerial Contrivance Workshop
Media Management & Website: Sage Brucia
Bookkeeper: Craig Paull
Fundraising Strategist: Bri Castellini
Grant Research and Development: Heather Munro
Legal: Richard J. Lee Law Group and Madison Karsenty, DCP Law
Produced by MATLANA a 501(c)3 organization
MATLANA Board Members
Deirdre English
Jocelyn Leroux
Jena Resner
Justine Shapiro
-
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Hello, listeners and viewers, welcome to
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Our Looney Planet.
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Sorry, I had to do that, couldn't resist.
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The reason why I did that is because
I'm a child.
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Hi. I'm Ian.
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I'm Justine.
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Back in the 90s, we hosted Lonely Planet.
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Also known as Globe Trekker
or Pilot Guides.
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It was the first travel show of its kind.
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300 million people watched us
bounce all over the globe
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For 20 years!
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Now we're back.
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Welcome to Our Looney Planet
with Ian and Justine.
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Yee-haw! Whoo hoo!
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Welcome to Our Looney Planet.
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And this is our very first proper show.
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And who is our guest today?
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Our guest is da da da da.
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I thought someone was saying something--
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Megan McCormick of course!
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Woo hoo!
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Oh, my gosh, there she is.
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Hi, Megan.
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Wow. How are you feeling?
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I'm doing all right.
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I was, like, thoroughly enjoying
this, like Justine-Ian banter moment.
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I was like, I know those voices.
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I know those characters. It's good to see you.
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But the weird thing is, we've only met through
this thing really – it’s the same as you.
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Yeah. You know, it's all nuts isn’t it.
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Yeah.
People,
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When people used to recognize me more
and they would always go, do you know Ian?
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Do you know Justine?
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Do you know Ian? Do you know Justine?
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Yeah, you go yeah they're wankers.
Like you don’t want to talk to them
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Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
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We're besties.
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- We're on the phone all the time.
- Yeah, yeah.
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Well, Megan and I have stayed in close touch.
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We live in the same country,
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We connect, we've connected,
many times over the years.
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So I know everything about Megan.
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So there. Yeah. Like I totally do.
0:02:05.958 - 0:02:09.458
Yeah, well, why don't I just blank it off then
and you just carry on yeah?
0:02:10.083 - 0:02:11.833
- So. Ian.
- Yes.
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- And Megan.
- Yes.
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Is this the first time the two of you have
had a proper conversation?
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It feels like it.
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- Yeah.
- If this is a proper conversation, I don’t know.
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Proper. But everything we do is always proper.
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I met you in the pub, but oh dear...
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Oh, I was I vaguely remember that.
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I actually vaguely remember the pub one,
but I really remember
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the one at the Discovery Channel
or whatever that event was.
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Doo doo doo, it's a prop!
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Hey!
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Oh my God.
Oh that happened.
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It did happen. Yes.
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Oh, wow.
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Isn't that crazy? How long ago was that?
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So that's Ian Cross, who created the show.
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Ian Cross.
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Megan.
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Ian. Justine.
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Wow. Long time ago.
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So what the hell have you been up to?
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I know nothing.
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- So have you been doing tele stuff?
- What have I been up to?
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I don't know,
that's a lot of time to cover.
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I don't know about how time is feeling for
you all, but, like,
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I just went back to India for the
first time since I went for this show,
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which was 25 years ago,
and that was the wildest time warp,
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because when I went to India
the first time, I was like, this is magic.
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I will be here again and again,
forever and ever.
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I've seen some things on this journey
that I never could have imagined,
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but the one thing that will really remain
with me will be the openness
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of the people that I've met, and how
willing they've been to talk to me.
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People return to India time
and time again,
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and I know that
I will definitely come back.
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And then whatever.
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Life went on it's own journey and I went
back for the first time 25 years later.
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- So that was a wild time warp.
- Yeah.
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- Because I feel like the same person--
- And you went with your daughter, didn’t you?
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Yeah yeah yeah, yeah.
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And she's just slightly younger
than I would have been
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when I started Globe Trekker.
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Oh, let's start with that.
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I would like- We would like to know
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I'm speaking for Ian.
Well, I'm going to have to do that quite a bit.
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Now that we have a guest on.
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I'm gonna have to speak for Ian.
Ian, you can speak for me too.
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You're welcome to speak for me too, Ian.
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And I would like to know
how you got the job.
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- How I got the Globe Trekker job?
- Yes. Yeah.
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Let's see.
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Well, as the story goes,
as it's told through the time
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and tale of life,
I was dating an actor at the time.
0:04:29.958 - 0:04:33.208
- Oh, darling!
- He had recently broken up with me
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for one of many times. And, but he saw
in the Backstage Magazine,
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which was like a tangible paper from the 90s
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- where actors would find out about auditions.
- Yes.
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- Remember that in New York?
- Yep.
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Actually, I don't know if you guys had it where you were.
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He saw this ad looking for a travel show
host to go to Nepal,
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but must be interested in this,
that and the other.
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And, you need a headshot
and resume and submit it.
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But I didn't have a headshot or a resume
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because I wasn't an actor
and I had no experience.
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So I made a collage of pictures,
like a book report
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from the eighth grade, seventh grade,
maybe even third grade.
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of pictures from when I had traveled
and lived in Japan.
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Wait wait wait.
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Let let's just, like, clear.
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Your audition was a collage.
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Yeah, it's a collage.
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I put in a collage like a poster board.
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I went to the drugstore.
I got a poster board.
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I taped pictures on it from my travels.
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And then on the back,
I wrote this very, very deep, poem about.
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It's the journey that matters.
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I was like, it's not the Taj Mahal.
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It’s the cow you pass on the way or whatever.
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So yeah, and I submitted that.
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And then the casting director was like,
well, we've never had a collage before,
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so you may as well come in.
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And then when I got there, I didn't think
I would ever get it, so I wasn't nervous.
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3000 people applied.
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They called in a certain number of people
to audition at the casting agent's
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office,
and so they had a whole room set up
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and they had some tchotchkes on a table,
and they just asked a series of questions.
0:06:01.208 - 0:06:02.583
Wait was Ian
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No
Was Ian Cross there?
0:06:04.583 - 0:06:05.833
No, this was just on tape.
0:06:05.833 - 0:06:09.458
This was culling through the whatever 3000
to a several hundred.
0:06:09.833 - 0:06:13.208
And then they'll send the tape to Ian
Cross once they've sort of vetted it.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:06:14.833 - 0:06:18.958
But there's a good part of this story
Quick. It’s a little tangential,
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but let's go.
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So I had to pretend
I was somewhere on the planet
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and tell the audience about it.
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And like I said,
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I've never done any hosting or acting,
so I'm just making this stuff up.
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And so I close my eyes and I was like,
0:06:30.583 - 0:06:32.583
okay, I'm in the middle of Tiananmen Square
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Like to the right of me is the Great Hall of the People
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to the left of me
is the National Art Museum.
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In front of me is Mao's Mausoleum,
and behind me is the Forbidden City,
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because I had traveled there
so I could put myself in the situation.
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But cut maybe five years later,
I was literally standing
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and doing exactly that piece to camera!
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From that balcony,
on October 1st, 1949, Mao Zedong
0:06:55.583 - 0:06:58.583
stood and announced the People's
Republic of China.
0:06:58.833 - 0:07:02.083
He uttered these famous words,
“China has arisen”
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Ironically, he declared
0:07:04.833 - 0:07:07.833
this at the gates
of the Imperial Forbidden City.
0:07:07.958 - 0:07:11.333
Even Mao respected its significance
to the Chinese people.
0:07:11.583 - 0:07:15.583
And so it was here that he built
the largest public space in the world,
0:07:15.958 - 0:07:18.958
Tiananmen Square.
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I remember it, I was like,
this is wild, brilliant.
0:07:22.833 - 0:07:23.583
This is wild.
0:07:23.583 - 0:07:25.583
So wow, that is wild.
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And what was your first show?
0:07:27.833 - 0:07:29.833
West India.
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I've come from the opposite
side of the world in order to experience
0:07:34.333 - 0:07:37.875
one of the ultimate travelers
destinations, India.
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Have you seen it recently?
0:07:54.958 - 0:07:56.083
Bits and pieces. Yeah. I tried to do my homework.
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How did it make you feel?
0:07:58.208 - 0:08:01.208
Uncomfortable
0:08:01.208 - 0:08:02.833
It’s sometimes horrible seeing yourself.
0:08:02.833 - 0:08:04.333
Sometimes horrible.
0:08:04.333 - 0:08:04.958
Yeah. No, no.
0:08:04.958 - 0:08:07.208
Not seeing you! Seeing me, myself.
0:08:07.208 - 0:08:10.208
What did you think watching yourself?
0:08:10.958 - 0:08:14.583
When was the last time
you saw yourself on Globe Trekker?
0:08:15.208 - 0:08:18.208
- When was the last time you watched
yourself in a Globe Trekker episode?
- Or on anything?
0:08:18.208 - 0:08:19.333
Yeah, right. Yeah.
0:08:19.333 - 0:08:22.958
I have never, rarely
I rarely watched any of the shows.
0:08:23.458 - 0:08:25.833
It wasn't like a thing I did.
0:08:25.833 - 0:08:28.208
So I haven't seen many of them
all the way through.
0:08:28.208 - 0:08:31.708
Maybe like right after
I would get like the VHS.
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Y’all, I remember when they sent me
the VHS tape of India
0:08:35.833 - 0:08:40.458
and I put it in the, the,
the machine and started playing the song.
0:08:43.833 - 0:08:45.208
And I nearly died.
0:08:45.208 - 0:08:47.333
I was, so I couldn't actually believe it.
0:08:47.333 - 0:08:48.708
And then I heard my voice come in.
0:08:48.708 - 0:08:51.333
I was like, is this is really happening?
0:08:51.333 - 0:08:52.458
What? Yeah.
0:08:52.458 - 0:08:54.958
It was so exciting
because you two were already kind
0:08:54.958 - 0:08:58.083
of, like,
growing in in what you were representing
0:08:58.083 - 0:08:59.833
and what you were doing
and how the show was
0:08:59.833 - 0:09:02.458
such a unique thing.
So I had seen it.
0:09:02.458 - 0:09:03.833
I was aware of it.
0:09:03.833 - 0:09:05.708
I was a fan of both of you.
0:09:05.708 - 0:09:08.708
And then all of a sudden, like,
in this weird twist of fate,
0:09:09.083 - 0:09:12.208
there's my voice,
my experience and that theme song.
0:09:12.583 - 0:09:14.083
Yeah, well, I still can’t--
0:09:14.083 - 0:09:16.958
When I see the programs, like,
because the same as you,
0:09:16.958 - 0:09:17.958
I never watch them.
0:09:17.958 - 0:09:21.333
It is too absurd to get your head over.
0:09:21.333 - 0:09:23.083
It's too nuts, isn't it?
0:09:23.083 - 0:09:26.083
You’re like, I say,
that's me walking around talking.
0:09:26.333 - 0:09:28.708
How the -- did I get that?
0:09:28.708 - 0:09:31.708
That it's just off the
off the planet isn’t it?
0:09:31.833 - 0:09:32.083
Yeah.
0:09:32.083 - 0:09:34.833
Just can't get my head around it
just as much as
0:09:34.833 - 0:09:37.708
I don't know how a plane stays in the sky.
0:09:37.708 - 0:09:38.833
Why am I there?
0:09:38.833 - 0:09:40.958
How did I get there? But it was done.
0:09:43.208 - 0:09:45.083
Yeah.
It's like on so many levels.
0:09:45.083 - 0:09:49.458
It's like you look at yourself in a show
you did 30 years ago and you think, okay,
0:09:49.583 - 0:09:53.083
my brain just can't really do this
weird memory thing
0:09:53.083 - 0:09:56.208
where I am
that person 30 years ago in that place.
0:09:56.208 - 0:09:59.708
And then constantly, it's like, fuck,
how did I get that job?
0:09:59.708 - 0:10:01.208
How did I get that fucking job?
0:10:01.208 - 0:10:03.083
I can't believe I got that job.
0:10:03.083 - 0:10:03.833
Yeah, yeah.
0:10:03.833 - 0:10:09.083
Now, we wouldn’t get it unless we had at
least 100 or 200 - 000 Instagram followers
0:10:09.083 - 0:10:10.833
and were Influencers.
0:10:10.833 - 0:10:13.458
That would be the only way
that we would get that job now.
0:10:13.458 - 0:10:18.958
So, Megan, when you saw your West
India show just now, I mean, really,
0:10:18.958 - 0:10:22.458
it's the first time you've seen yourself
in a Globe Trekker show in a long time.
0:10:23.958 - 0:10:24.708
I don't know, did you show
0:10:24.708 - 0:10:27.958
your kids the episodes of Globe Trekker
when they were growing up?
0:10:28.083 - 0:10:28.708
Haha.
0:10:28.708 - 0:10:31.958
Occasionally I'd be like,
“Oh, you're interested in orangutan?
0:10:32.083 - 0:10:35.083
Let me take you to Indonesia, child.”
0:10:35.708 - 0:10:38.708
I'm tempted to tickle you,
but I know that's a bad idea.
0:10:39.458 - 0:10:40.708
Yes it is, Megan.
0:10:40.708 - 0:10:43.583
And they were like,
“Nah! Not interested.”
0:10:43.583 - 0:10:45.458
“Oh, you're interested in whale sharks?
0:10:45.458 - 0:10:47.583
I just have... no? no?”
0:10:47.583 - 0:10:48.833
Okay.
0:10:48.833 - 0:10:53.083
I loved watching your your west
your your West India show.
0:10:53.083 - 0:10:56.833
Megan I you look so
0:10:57.583 - 0:11:00.583
it was just
so the like the heart of who you are.
0:11:00.583 - 0:11:02.958
Like you wanted to do the right thing.
0:11:02.958 - 0:11:05.958
You were a little nervous in your PTCs,
your piece to camera
0:11:06.083 - 0:11:09.333
and and and you were so excited.
0:11:09.333 - 0:11:11.708
I could just feel like
you were just containing.
0:11:11.708 - 0:11:13.083
Like you were just.
0:11:13.083 - 0:11:16.083
I felt like the inside of you was going,
“I can't believe I'm here.
0:11:16.083 - 0:11:18.208
I'm doing this. I cannot believe I'm here.”
0:11:18.208 - 0:11:21.208
That's how I felt watching
you do your first show.
0:11:21.208 - 0:11:25.333
Well, I had a huge, like, dissonance
between, like,
0:11:25.333 - 0:11:28.583
once I was a contender for the job,
and then I got the job.
0:11:28.583 - 0:11:32.458
They're like, if you can leave
in two weeks, you have one show only,
0:11:32.458 - 0:11:33.583
it's to India
0:11:33.583 - 0:11:34.708
Yeah. And that was that.
0:11:34.708 - 0:11:37.458
And I was like, I quit my job at MSNBC.
0:11:37.458 - 0:11:40.083
I gave up my apartment, got on a plane.
0:11:40.083 - 0:11:44.458
I went to London, I met Ian,
I met Angela Gourley, amazing producer.
0:11:44.583 - 0:11:46.833
And I didn't talk the entire lunch.
0:11:46.833 - 0:11:49.458
And I look back, I'm like, dude,
were they terrified?
0:11:49.458 - 0:11:52.458
Like, did we just hire a presenter
who can't actually speak?
0:11:52.583 - 0:11:56.708
Because I'm actually really shy, like
people that know me from back in the day.
0:11:56.708 - 0:12:00.958
They were like, “When I saw you on TV,
I was shocked because you are so shy.”
0:12:01.208 - 0:12:02.708
So I had to override a lot.
0:12:02.708 - 0:12:03.333
So we were like,
0:12:03.333 - 0:12:07.083
finally I get all the way to India,
we're almost to the camel festival.
0:12:07.083 - 0:12:09.333
Somebody gives me a radio mic
and some things to say,
0:12:09.333 - 0:12:13.333
and that's the first time
I actually understood what my job was.
0:12:13.458 - 0:12:17.208
I was like, oh my God.
0:12:18.208 - 0:12:20.333
So do you remember--
0:12:20.333 - 0:12:23.333
Do you remember your very first piece
to camera you ever did?
0:12:23.458 - 0:12:24.708
100%.
0:12:24.708 - 0:12:28.583
I have a giant backpack
and I just have to walk down some stairs
0:12:28.833 - 0:12:34.708
lined by people who are all staring at me
and say, like, here I am, in Pushkar
0:12:34.833 - 0:12:36.833
there's a camel festival
that happens every year.
0:12:36.833 - 0:12:38.291
Something,
something, something, something.
0:12:39.583 - 0:12:43.708
Most of these people are here right now
because of the annual religious festival.
0:12:44.083 - 0:12:47.958
And so just on the other side
of all of this excitement is the big lake,
0:12:47.958 - 0:12:50.958
where most of the religious
rights are performed.
0:12:50.958 - 0:12:53.208
And I'm going to head over that way now.
0:12:53.208 - 0:12:57.583
But I was like, my voice was so tremulous
that the sound recordist would just like,
0:12:58.083 - 0:13:00.833
not as head like that and kind of shake,
and the director would be like,
0:13:00.833 - 0:13:02.083
“Could we do it again?
0:13:02.083 - 0:13:05.666
Could we just do it one more time?”
and Tim would be like,
0:13:06.083 - 0:13:09.083
- yeah, please do it one more time.
- How many times did you do it?
0:13:09.583 - 0:13:10.833
Oh, so many times.
0:13:10.833 - 0:13:12.458
Oh so many.
0:13:12.458 - 0:13:15.458
Was that the first time
you'd experienced doing takes?
0:13:15.583 - 0:13:16.208
Yeah.
0:13:16.208 - 0:13:19.333
Girl, I've never done anything on camera.
0:13:19.333 - 0:13:20.458
Can we just repeat that?
0:13:20.458 - 0:13:23.583
Like they hired somebody
with literally zero experience.
0:13:23.833 - 0:13:26.333
And you got tons of especially India.
0:13:26.333 - 0:13:29.083
You got tons of people staring at you,
staring at you.
0:13:29.083 - 0:13:30.958
And it was, oh, my God, this is a camera.
0:13:30.958 - 0:13:33.208
There's something.
There must be a film star. Film star.
0:13:33.208 - 0:13:36.208
And then it’s just you or me or Justine,
Oh here we are,
0:13:36.333 - 0:13:39.833
And then look over there, that's over there.
And they’re like, is that it?
0:13:40.583 - 0:13:41.333
Oh, yeah,
0:13:42.458 - 0:13:43.708
So Megan,
0:13:43.708 - 0:13:47.208
I loved that scene in the West
India episode.
0:13:47.333 - 0:13:52.083
There's a scene that brought me right back
where you are trying to figure out
0:13:52.333 - 0:13:56.208
where to buy the ticket
to get onto the bus.
0:13:56.458 - 0:14:01.333
Right now, my big trial is to find
0:14:01.333 - 0:14:04.333
where I get the bus to Bikaner.
0:14:05.833 - 0:14:08.833
I want to go to Bikaner.
Bikaner?
0:14:09.208 - 0:14:10.958
Can I buy a ticket? There?
0:14:10.958 - 0:14:13.208
Yeah. What is your continent?
0:14:13.208 - 0:14:14.208
America.
0:14:14.208 - 0:14:16.708
I'm going to Bikaner.
0:14:16.708 - 0:14:18.833
Where can I buy a ticket?
0:14:18.833 - 0:14:21.833
You can get the bus at 8:45.
8:45?
0:14:21.833 - 0:14:23.083
Thank you very much.
0:14:23.083 - 0:14:25.208
Hello.
0:14:25.208 - 0:14:26.958
How are you?
0:14:26.958 - 0:14:29.333
I want to go to Bikaner.
0:14:29.333 - 0:14:31.208
Bikaner? Yeah, just.
0:14:31.208 - 0:14:32.458
That'd be eight hours on the bus
0:14:37.666 - 0:14:39.583
Do you remember that?
0:14:39.583 - 0:14:41.083
Yes. Ish.
0:14:41.083 - 0:14:42.958
But I just lived it again.
0:14:42.958 - 0:14:45.958
Like, almost the same thing
in January with my kid.
0:14:46.208 - 0:14:46.958
Because we were trying.
0:14:46.958 - 0:14:49.958
We really tried to take
public transportation when we could,
0:14:50.083 - 0:14:53.083
and I was like, which is the place for the
this is not the train is over there.
0:14:53.208 - 0:14:55.458
Okay. Up the stairs,
over the stairs, down the stairs.
0:14:55.458 - 0:14:57.333
Oh, this is not it. Up
the stairs, back upstairs.
0:14:57.333 - 0:14:59.333
Go da da da, yeah.
0:14:59.333 - 0:15:02.833
It was, it is, it is just
it is still a lot like that.
0:15:03.333 - 0:15:07.208
I love that-- Who goes to a Rat Temple?
0:15:08.208 - 0:15:10.708
Yeah, that's just so mental.
0:15:10.708 - 0:15:13.458
That's why they paid us
the big bucks for moments like that.
0:15:14.458 - 0:15:16.583
It was just rats everywhere.
0:15:16.583 - 0:15:18.083
Come on. What are we going to do? Let's.
0:15:18.083 - 0:15:19.833
Let's go to Rat Temple. Yeah.
0:15:19.833 - 0:15:21.208
Okay. Yeah.
0:15:21.208 - 0:15:23.416
Madness, man. Madness.
0:15:24.333 - 0:15:27.208
I'm at the Karni Mata temple,
0:15:27.208 - 0:15:29.458
which is filled with rats
0:15:29.458 - 0:15:31.708
who are supposedly
0:15:31.708 - 0:15:34.708
incarnations of storytellers.
0:15:34.833 - 0:15:40.833
I can still feel the, floor because
you take your shoes off to be respectful.
0:15:40.833 - 0:15:44.333
And the idea is you shuffle your feet
so that they don't crawl on you,
0:15:44.333 - 0:15:45.583
or you don't injure one of them,
0:15:45.583 - 0:15:48.583
because then you've killed grandma again,
and that's bad.
0:15:48.583 - 0:15:51.083
Hey, little fella.
0:15:51.083 - 0:15:54.083
So, Yeah, I can still feel the
0:15:54.333 - 0:15:57.583
the rat... gifts of the rats’ pee
0:15:58.833 - 0:16:00.583
or whatever is everywhere under my feet.
0:16:00.583 - 0:16:01.958
But, you know, I'm from New York. I'm.
0:16:01.958 - 0:16:03.958
I'm fine with those creatures, I got it.
0:16:03.958 - 0:16:06.458
Yes, that's fair enough. Yeah.
What was that, like?
0:16:06.458 - 0:16:09.708
Kind of seeing those rats relative
0:16:09.708 - 0:16:12.958
to your experience,
your own personal experience with.
0:16:12.958 - 0:16:14.708
I mean, have you
had you ever seen. Really?
0:16:14.708 - 0:16:15.458
Rats.
0:16:15.458 - 0:16:17.958
Where have you been? Around
rats like that?
0:16:17.958 - 0:16:20.583
Yeah.
What was your rat experience? Yeah.
0:16:20.583 - 0:16:23.833
This is gonna turn into another program
If this doesn't work, we’re gonna
0:16:23.958 - 0:16:25.583
do something else. Rat catchers.
0:16:27.833 - 0:16:30.333
Yeah, I, I don't know.
0:16:30.333 - 0:16:31.083
I lived in New York,
0:16:31.083 - 0:16:35.458
so I'm familiar, like late night
walking home with the friends, scurrying.
0:16:35.458 - 0:16:38.708
But they're kind of, like, bigger,
slower and meaner in New York.
0:16:38.708 - 0:16:40.708
They were just like,
they would stare me down,
0:16:40.708 - 0:16:43.708
and I would cross the street
to give them their berth.
0:16:43.708 - 0:16:47.083
But, but this was just
this was just a lot to take in.
0:16:47.083 - 0:16:50.833
Like, just to remember,
this is my first experience on camera.
0:16:50.833 - 0:16:54.833
This is my first time in India,
which is a realm onto its own.
0:16:55.083 - 0:16:58.708
And then just the sacredness of things
was really apparent,
0:16:58.708 - 0:17:01.083
and the meaningfulness
to people who are visiting.
0:17:01.083 - 0:17:04.208
So it's like I have my own filter
that I'm experiencing it in.
0:17:04.458 - 0:17:09.333
And also the invitation to try to like,
dip into the to the story of it,
0:17:09.333 - 0:17:14.333
to the sacred nature of it, to people's
beliefs and, and what they're coming to.
0:17:14.958 - 0:17:18.458
And that was the part I wanted to, like,
lean into more and get over
0:17:18.458 - 0:17:20.208
whether there were rats
scurrying about or not.
0:17:20.208 - 0:17:23.083
And I was like, wow,
this was really significant for people.
0:17:23.083 - 0:17:24.208
I want to understand that.
0:17:24.208 - 0:17:26.333
I want to feel a bit of it.
0:17:26.333 - 0:17:29.583
Do you remember feeling, kind of shocked
0:17:29.833 - 0:17:34.208
by anything as you started
traveling of the course of the world?
0:17:34.583 - 0:17:38.708
I mean, I imagine there are places
that you went in those years
0:17:38.708 - 0:17:42.833
where they had not seen a white
blond girl before.
0:17:43.333 - 0:17:44.708
Yeah, I remember two in particular.
0:17:44.708 - 0:17:48.583
One was in West Africa when we were kind
of way off the beaten track,
0:17:48.583 - 0:17:51.958
- and we showed up in a village and like...
- Which country was that?
0:17:51.958 - 0:17:54.083
It was. I think we were in Cote d'Ivoire.
0:17:54.083 - 0:17:58.333
We were in Cote d'Ivoire, and we were
I don't remember the story itself,
0:17:58.333 - 0:18:02.583
but I remember the village and the warmth
I was received with and then this fear
0:18:02.583 - 0:18:05.833
on this child, like looked at me
and screamed and ran for its mom.
0:18:06.083 - 0:18:09.333
And then a couple of other small children
were also really scared.
0:18:09.583 - 0:18:12.958
And she said, “Don't worry,
they just think you're a ghost.”
0:18:13.083 - 0:18:15.333
- Wow.
- I was like, “okay..”
0:18:15.333 - 0:18:17.458
Yeah, I get that.
0:18:17.458 - 0:18:18.958
Wow, but you had that as well
0:18:18.958 - 0:18:20.333
Justine in China, didn't you?
0:18:20.333 - 0:18:23.833
Yeah, like in the,
in the highlands of, of Vietnam
0:18:24.083 - 0:18:27.833
and in the provinces of southwest China.
0:18:27.833 - 0:18:30.833
I mean, you know,
when we were traveling in the 90s,
0:18:31.333 - 0:18:35.458
there wasn't that much tourism
in a, in a lot of the world.
0:18:35.458 - 0:18:40.333
And so, yeah, we would have been the first
white people for some people to see.
0:18:40.583 - 0:18:43.333
I started to realize that wasn't
such an unusual thing.
0:18:43.333 - 0:18:44.458
It was really weird
0:18:44.458 - 0:18:47.958
the first time it happened,
like just, oh, it's gotta be the way so.
0:18:48.208 - 0:18:51.958
And I thought, I always thought,
like in the cartoons,
0:18:51.958 - 0:18:55.833
you know, when you see something weird
or different or shocking or whatever,
0:18:56.083 - 0:19:00.333
you'd have, like a expression
on your face of like, surprise.
0:19:00.333 - 0:19:03.333
And I remember when we were in, in
0:19:03.333 - 0:19:06.875
Southwest China, I remember that
the way the people looked at me
0:19:07.791 - 0:19:10.958
was, it's hard to put into words,
0:19:10.958 - 0:19:15.708
but they would just sort of stand back
and just look.
0:19:15.708 - 0:19:19.333
No expression,
no surprise, horror, delight, fear.
0:19:19.333 - 0:19:23.833
None of it just,
very kind of neutral expression, but,
0:19:23.833 - 0:19:26.958
like, really, really, really
0:19:26.958 - 0:19:29.958
looking like up and down
0:19:29.958 - 0:19:34.333
and looking at me up and down
and looking at me up and down
0:19:34.583 - 0:19:37.583
and just kind of looking like,
almost like when you're at the zoo
0:19:37.833 - 0:19:41.708
and you're kind of looking at the animals
from the top to the bottom.
0:19:41.708 - 0:19:43.583
That's how it was.
0:19:43.583 - 0:19:45.958
- It was...
- Freaky.
0:19:45.958 - 0:19:49.333
- But yeah.
- They must have been so freaked out.
0:19:49.333 - 0:19:50.708
As well as you.
0:19:50.708 - 0:19:52.083
Can you imagine?
0:19:52.083 - 0:19:52.333
Yeah.
0:19:52.333 - 0:19:56.083
No, I can't because I, they,
I didn't have that experience.
0:19:56.333 - 0:19:59.708
So it's just like with
but I had the cartoon experience.
0:19:59.708 - 0:20:03.875
where your eyes go waaa, your tongue go like ahhh
0:20:03.875 - 0:20:05.458
When did that happen to you?
0:20:05.458 - 0:20:07.333
When I met me wife, I was like.
0:20:10.083 - 0:20:11.708
Oh, yeah.
0:20:11.708 - 0:20:13.583
So that's all I was thinking.
0:20:13.583 - 0:20:15.333
When you were saying that,
don't tell me cartoons,
0:20:15.333 - 0:20:17.583
because I'm just going to get that
in me head now.
0:20:17.583 - 0:20:18.916
Love it.
0:20:20.833 - 0:20:22.208
Megan, I wanted to ask you.
0:20:22.208 - 0:20:26.333
There was there was a thing in the
in the show in the West India show
0:20:26.458 - 0:20:30.083
where you kind of referenced your tummy,
your tummy troubles
0:20:30.333 - 0:20:34.708
in, in sort of oblique and direct ways
and, you know,
0:20:34.708 - 0:20:37.333
that was always the first thing
people would say to me is like,
0:20:37.333 - 0:20:39.708
oh, God, like,
where'd you get the worst diarrhea?
0:20:39.708 - 0:20:43.583
I, you know, I have friends who ask me questions
Yeah, that amazing travel,
0:20:43.583 - 0:20:46.583
Where did you shit yourself worst? yeah
0:20:47.083 - 0:20:48.208
Really, I don't know.
0:20:48.208 - 0:20:52.208
Did anyone ever ask you, Megan, like,
where you had the worst diarrhea?
0:20:53.458 - 0:20:54.583
If not, I’m asking you now
0:20:54.583 - 0:20:56.208
No, nobody has asked me that,
0:20:56.208 - 0:20:58.958
to be honest with you.
And Ian,
0:20:58.958 - 0:21:01.833
Ian, you have to start thinking,
because I want to know what your story is.
0:21:01.833 - 0:21:03.583
But do you remember, Megan
where you had it the worst?
0:21:03.583 - 0:21:08.083
Girl, I had the worst
in so many different places.
0:21:08.583 - 0:21:10.083
At least five different.
0:21:10.083 - 0:21:11.708
Seven different times.
0:21:11.708 - 0:21:15.833
Then I discovered charcoal,
like activated charcoal, it was in Morocco.
0:21:15.833 - 0:21:18.083
We were on a shoot there
and it was a big day.
0:21:18.083 - 0:21:19.958
The real lot scheduled for one day.
0:21:19.958 - 0:21:23.833
And I woke up
and I was in so much pain, doubled over
0:21:23.833 - 0:21:27.333
and they had a French doctor
come and gave me all of these things.
0:21:27.333 - 0:21:31.083
And then I took some activated charcoal,
and it didn't cure me,
0:21:31.083 - 0:21:35.833
but it made me be composed
enough to do my job that day.
0:21:35.833 - 0:21:37.791
Oh, over a night or something
of taking it?
0:21:37.791 - 0:21:41.208
Yeah, It was like a few hours later
and it just started to kind of,
0:21:41.208 - 0:21:45.083
I don't know how it works
any chemists in the room online,
0:21:45.083 - 0:21:46.208
let us know how that works.
0:21:46.208 - 0:21:49.250
Oh, and then since then
it's been my go to like...
0:21:49.250 - 0:21:51.083
Okay. What do you get it in a tablet form?
0:21:51.083 - 0:21:53.458
Or you have to scramble around
and open fire...?
0:21:53.458 - 0:21:55.083
You have to go over an open fire.
0:21:55.083 - 0:21:55.833
You have to make
0:21:55.833 - 0:21:58.708
a, offering to the fire gods
and the coal gods,
0:21:58.708 - 0:22:01.708
and then if you're lucky,
you might get some.
0:22:01.708 - 0:22:04.708
So in so in the West India episode, you,
0:22:05.083 - 0:22:09.458
you say something that I loved hearing,
which is someone offers you some food.
0:22:09.833 - 0:22:15.458
And I think you said something like, you
know, if it doesn't kill me, I'll try it.
0:22:15.458 - 0:22:18.208
Or, you know, what's the YOLO credo?
0:22:18.208 - 0:22:19.208
Only live once,
0:22:20.833 - 0:22:21.958
What is it?
0:22:21.958 - 0:22:24.458
Oh yeah, sure. Chili.
0:22:24.458 - 0:22:25.583
Is it hot?
0:22:25.583 - 0:22:27.083
Spicy.
0:22:27.083 - 0:22:29.458
That's good.
You only live once. Yeah, sure.
0:22:29.458 - 0:22:30.458
Let's go for it.
0:22:30.458 - 0:22:34.458
Pani puri.
0:22:35.958 - 0:22:37.583
Okay. I'm a little bit nervous, I’ve been
0:22:37.583 - 0:22:38.958
kind of sick for a few days.
0:22:38.958 - 0:22:41.958
But you only come to
0:22:43.333 - 0:22:44.708
Juhu Beach once.
0:22:44.708 - 0:22:46.833
I thought that's why they hired her.
0:22:46.833 - 0:22:48.833
Because she has that attitude.
0:22:48.833 - 0:22:51.208
It's kind of like a motto
for life, though.
0:22:51.208 - 0:22:53.208
It’s one way to to be, like turning
0:22:53.208 - 0:22:56.833
toward the weirdness of an experience
as opposed to blocking it off.
0:22:57.458 - 0:23:00.708
Well, the thing is that
you're not forcing anything, you can see
0:23:00.833 - 0:23:03.083
you're just going with everything
0:23:03.083 - 0:23:06.708
that happens in yourself
and being as honest as you can.
0:23:06.708 - 0:23:11.333
Like when you take that chili, that's
that's what made the program so good.
0:23:11.583 - 0:23:12.083
Cheers.
0:23:18.958 - 0:23:21.958
Oh yeah, that's
0:23:22.958 - 0:23:25.458
I think there’s water coming out my nose.
0:23:25.458 - 0:23:28.458
Definitely don't go for the chili unless
0:23:28.583 - 0:23:30.708
you need a good kind of
0:23:30.708 - 0:23:33.208
nasal cleaner outer.
0:23:33.208 - 0:23:35.708
But it's very nice. Thank you.
0:23:35.708 - 0:23:39.208
No one was eating stuff from the streets
when we were doing the show as well.
0:23:39.208 - 0:23:40.833
There wasn't programs like that.
0:23:40.833 - 0:23:41.458
And I love it.
0:23:41.458 - 0:23:44.333
You're just like, oh, and you're off.
0:23:44.333 - 0:23:47.333
And he's laughing, and it is that. Yeah.
0:23:48.708 - 0:23:50.458
Sweet. Do you have a sweet one?
0:23:50.958 - 0:23:51.583
Oh, sweet.
0:23:51.583 - 0:23:54.583
That's sweet. Promise?
0:23:54.583 - 0:23:57.708
Yeah.
This is supposed to be sweet, but
0:23:58.458 - 0:24:01.458
Mmm.
Nice.
0:24:02.208 - 0:24:05.208
Mhm.
0:24:05.708 - 0:24:07.583
Very nice, very sweet.
0:24:07.583 - 0:24:09.833
Kind of like an apple pie.
0:24:09.833 - 0:24:12.083
Deeply fried from the fair.
0:24:12.083 - 0:24:15.333
When I first saw both your shows in India,
0:24:15.958 - 0:24:19.708
every time
when food came up of what you ate
0:24:20.083 - 0:24:23.833
in India,
I was just like, oh, oh, just heaven.
0:24:23.958 - 0:24:27.083
The food there is just off the scale.
0:24:27.833 - 0:24:28.916
Yeah, I mean, I remember
0:24:28.916 - 0:24:32.458
hearing about you Ian that
you are a vegetarian or were a vegetarian,
0:24:32.833 - 0:24:36.458
but no matter where you went,
you would receive what was offered to you
0:24:36.458 - 0:24:39.583
because that was that's where you were,
and you respected that.
0:24:39.583 - 0:24:41.333
And you actually appreciated it.
0:24:41.333 - 0:24:44.333
And I, I, I really like that about you.
0:24:44.833 - 0:24:45.208
Yeah.
0:24:45.208 - 0:24:51.708
I also realized that it'd be shit television
if every time you went to eat something,
0:24:51.708 - 0:24:53.708
because half
the thing about in
0:24:53.708 - 0:24:57.583
the country is the food, you know,
that is the backbone to everything.
0:24:57.708 - 0:25:01.125
So if you heard me
on every show, “Oh actually, I'm a vegetarian.”
0:25:01.125 - 0:25:03.958
“I know what it is
because animals and...” you know, just
0:25:05.458 - 0:25:07.458
you couldn't be a presenter to do that.
0:25:07.458 - 0:25:09.833
Also see I turned vegetarian
0:25:09.833 - 0:25:12.833
when I was about 12 or 13, because
sometimes when you're young, you’re like--
0:25:14.916 - 0:25:16.208
When I got to 28,
0:25:16.208 - 0:25:19.458
I realized that it become sort of habit.
0:25:19.833 - 0:25:23.958
More than that I had that passion when I was 12.
0:25:23.958 - 0:25:28.666
So when I got the job at around that time,
it was just like, well,
0:25:29.208 - 0:25:30.333
it’s all a habit anyway.
0:25:30.333 - 0:25:32.458
And I actually, I want to taste that
0:25:32.458 - 0:25:34.458
That looks nice
0:25:34.458 - 0:25:36.500
And I became a greedy piglet.
0:25:37.958 - 0:25:39.083
No no, don’t do like this,
0:25:39.083 - 0:25:41.833
- Only one hand with right hand.
- Only my right hand?
0:25:41.833 - 0:25:44.833
- Why is that?
- Because right work right hand.
0:25:44.958 - 0:25:47.583
- Right work right hand?
- Person eating like this
0:25:47.583 - 0:25:49.958
All the way down
to how we eat our food.
0:25:49.958 - 0:25:53.333
Okay. I don't think my
table manners are the best,
0:25:54.458 - 0:25:58.083
I've kind of demolished
that, but maybe I can scoop it up.
0:25:58.083 - 0:26:00.583
It looks like a tortilla chip
at this point.
0:26:00.583 - 0:26:03.708
So when you were eating with your right
hand, like,
0:26:03.708 - 0:26:05.583
was that the first time you ate
with your hand?
0:26:05.583 - 0:26:07.291
Tell us all.
0:26:07.291 - 0:26:08.583
Tell us all?
0:26:08.583 - 0:26:11.708
I mean, yes, was the first time
I was like, in
0:26:11.708 - 0:26:14.958
a country or place
where you directly ate with your hands.
0:26:15.208 - 0:26:16.708
Great. I like it.
0:26:16.708 - 0:26:17.083
Yeah.
0:26:17.083 - 0:26:20.333
Less to clean up, like get to like,
I would probably lick
0:26:20.333 - 0:26:21.583
my fingers anyway, so.
0:26:21.583 - 0:26:23.583
Great. Let's just make it polite.
0:26:23.583 - 0:26:26.208
Yeah, yeah, I mean,
0:26:26.208 - 0:26:29.958
even this last time
when I was there, after 25 years,
0:26:30.208 - 0:26:34.500
there's so much happening in India
0:26:34.500 - 0:26:39.083
all of the time, everywhere
we looked, so it's that super
0:26:39.083 - 0:26:42.208
like immersive experience in a way
0:26:42.208 - 0:26:45.583
that not every country is. Some places are a little
0:26:45.583 - 0:26:50.208
I agree, I think that when I was India,
when I was a bloody hippie
0:26:50.583 - 0:26:53.458
and I went around India for many months,
0:26:53.458 - 0:26:57.958
Ian was a hippie. Ian was a hippie.
0:26:59.625 - 0:27:02.083
I don't think there was one day
where I didn't
0:27:02.083 - 0:27:05.083
see something that didn't blow my mind.
0:27:05.583 - 0:27:08.958
There's just every single day
there's something, whether it's like a,
0:27:09.333 - 0:27:12.083
like a cow walking down the road
0:27:12.083 - 0:27:15.333
with the biggest horns
that you've ever seen in your life.
0:27:15.333 - 0:27:18.958
Or there's a guy with his head in the sand
0:27:18.958 - 0:27:22.458
in the middle of the path of the road
for no reason at all.
0:27:22.833 - 0:27:25.958
It's just crazy, isn't it?
Absolutely crazy.
0:27:25.958 - 0:27:27.458
Do you remember the--
0:27:27.458 - 0:27:30.958
Do you remember the moment in in the show
where you
0:27:31.083 - 0:27:35.208
witness, basically,
0:27:37.333 - 0:27:39.583
mob justice?
0:27:39.583 - 0:27:40.208
Oh, yeah.
0:27:40.208 - 0:27:43.208
Yeah, yeah. I'm in Goa.
0:27:43.583 - 0:27:46.458
We're doing a story about the fish market,
0:27:46.458 - 0:27:49.458
and we just hear this
loud commotion and shouting.
0:27:54.833 - 0:27:56.833
and if somebody is, like,
0:27:56.833 - 0:27:59.958
going after somebody else, and I'm
trying to figure out what's happening
0:27:59.958 - 0:28:03.083
and don't know what to do and who needs--
does somebody need help in some way
0:28:03.333 - 0:28:05.333
and then our fixer was like,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
0:28:05.333 - 0:28:07.833
This is their justice system.
Don't think about it.
0:28:07.833 - 0:28:09.083
This is how it's going to go.
0:28:09.083 - 0:28:11.833
Don't worry about it.
Mind your own business. Come over here.
0:28:11.833 - 0:28:13.333
Not our problem, not our--
0:28:13.333 - 0:28:15.083
Not our not our
0:28:15.083 - 0:28:16.708
Just move on. Move on.
0:28:16.708 - 0:28:18.458
But it was so intense.
0:28:18.458 - 0:28:20.708
The man, the fish lady.
0:28:20.708 - 0:28:22.083
And so what?
0:28:22.083 - 0:28:23.083
I can't see really?
0:28:23.083 - 0:28:23.708
What's happening?
0:28:23.708 - 0:28:25.083
Is she?
Beating.
0:28:25.083 - 0:28:27.083
It’s beating. Public beating.
0:28:27.083 - 0:28:28.208
Public beating.
0:28:28.208 - 0:28:31.208
Is that how you deal
with that kind of thing?
0:28:31.208 - 0:28:33.958
No police? No. Just within yourselves
0:28:34.958 - 0:28:36.583
and no police.
0:28:36.583 - 0:28:38.708
No police? No.
0:28:38.708 - 0:28:41.708
Were they-- Did they feel funny about you filming
0:28:41.708 - 0:28:44.708
- filming it or not really care?
- They were not paying any attention to us
0:28:44.708 - 0:28:45.708
They weren't.
0:28:45.708 - 0:28:46.958
We were not part of it.
0:28:46.958 - 0:28:48.833
It was almost like we weren't even there.
0:28:48.833 - 0:28:49.208
Yeah.
0:28:49.208 - 0:28:52.458
So there was no awareness
that, stop filming this
0:28:52.458 - 0:28:54.833
- because it's looking a bit funny.
- It didn't seem like that.
0:28:54.833 - 0:28:55.833
Yeah, it was just.
0:28:55.833 - 0:28:59.083
It looked like
this is what the next course of event
0:28:59.083 - 0:29:02.458
would have been without, with
or without us being witness.
0:29:02.583 - 0:29:06.333
But again, like we said with Justine
that's that was also
0:29:06.333 - 0:29:07.458
the strength of the program.
0:29:07.458 - 0:29:11.833
Something happens and you're just there
and you just film it and, and you know,
0:29:11.833 - 0:29:16.708
and it says so much about the country
and like, say, the justice and everything.
0:29:17.083 - 0:29:18.833
And the other thing is, if you know,
0:29:20.458 - 0:29:23.833
it's hard to remember
this, I think in the context of today
0:29:23.833 - 0:29:26.833
with everyone filming things
from their tiny little phones.
0:29:27.083 - 0:29:30.958
But, I mean, our camera was,
you know, 2.5ft long.
0:29:31.208 - 0:29:32.958
You know, the tripod was massive.
0:29:32.958 - 0:29:34.083
Everything was massive.
0:29:34.083 - 0:29:37.583
It wasn't like we could be inconspicuous
when we were filming,
0:29:37.708 - 0:29:42.583
but people didn't really seem
to pay that much attention to us.
0:29:42.708 - 0:29:45.333
It felt like once
they got accustomed to us being like,
0:29:45.333 - 0:29:48.333
there was curious sometimes,
like a lot of curiosity initially
0:29:48.583 - 0:29:51.083
And then, you know,
it takes a while to film what we do.
0:29:51.083 - 0:29:52.708
So we kind of we get, they get bored of us.
0:29:52.708 - 0:29:54.333
I feel like, yeah, we're okay. Okay.
0:29:54.333 - 0:29:55.833
We've seen that now, bored.
0:29:55.833 - 0:29:58.458
And then we would just become part
of the furniture.
0:29:58.458 - 0:30:00.583
It's like,
oh, those people are just doing that.
0:30:00.583 - 0:30:03.333
There was probably,
I wonder if there was less awareness
0:30:03.333 - 0:30:07.333
about the filming aspect
because people weren't being filmed.
0:30:07.333 - 0:30:09.708
And now it's like,
oh, somebody's got a camera
0:30:09.708 - 0:30:11.208
and they're going to see something
somewhere.
0:30:11.208 - 0:30:14.208
So just more awareness about that.
0:30:14.333 - 0:30:16.083
Do you remember,
0:30:17.208 - 0:30:19.708
where you are bargaining
0:30:19.708 - 0:30:22.958
and then you say you seem
0:30:22.958 - 0:30:26.458
a little uncomfortable bargaining like,
oh God, why am I even going?
0:30:26.458 - 0:30:29.583
Like, I just, I don't he
he doesn't have to pay anything.
0:30:29.583 - 0:30:30.333
But you kind of know
0:30:30.333 - 0:30:34.083
that you're supposed to bargain
and then you throw in a Pepsi at the end.
0:30:35.333 - 0:30:36.583
- How many piece you want?
- I want one.
0:30:36.583 - 0:30:37.458
I want this one.
0:30:37.458 - 0:30:40.333
I'll take two if you give me a deal.
0:30:40.333 - 0:30:41.208
Okay? Okay.
0:30:41.208 - 0:30:43.458
A couple 100 for both.
0:30:43.458 - 0:30:44.333
Make a better price.
0:30:44.333 - 0:30:45.833
Happy for me, happy for you.
0:30:45.833 - 0:30:47.333
- 475..
- 400 for both.
0:30:47.333 - 0:30:49.208
- 450 okay?
- You're breaking my heart.
0:30:49.208 - 0:30:51.708
I am sorry,
I don't want to break your heart, but.
0:30:51.708 - 0:30:52.833
Oh, yeah? How about I give you 400?
0:30:52.833 - 0:30:54.708
I'll go buy a Pepsi and bring it to you,
okay?
0:30:54.708 - 0:30:56.708
Okay, okay.
0:30:57.583 - 0:30:59.708
I feel like I was being nudged
0:30:59.708 - 0:31:04.458
to do the bargaining by some well-meaning
director producer types.
0:31:04.458 - 0:31:07.958
Like the story is in India,
you bargain for everything.
0:31:07.958 - 0:31:11.458
And,
I have my own kind of way of operating,
0:31:11.458 - 0:31:14.708
so I probably don't do it
exactly like that.
0:31:14.708 - 0:31:16.333
But also this is my first time.
0:31:16.333 - 0:31:18.458
I'm brand new and I'm like, okay.
0:31:18.458 - 0:31:20.833
And I feel like I asked the fixer.
0:31:20.833 - 0:31:24.208
So I don't know if you've explained
what who the fixers were.
0:31:24.208 - 0:31:27.208
They have a very important role
in different countries, the locals
0:31:27.208 - 0:31:30.583
who would help us make things happen
more easily and I could check in.
0:31:30.583 - 0:31:32.583
I was like, is this just rude?
0:31:32.583 - 0:31:34.083
Like, what are we doing here?
0:31:34.083 - 0:31:37.208
Like, economically speaking,
this feels disrespectful.
0:31:37.208 - 0:31:39.458
Ultimately, they're like,
no, no, no, no, you can't.
0:31:39.458 - 0:31:42.958
Because every time you raise the price,
you raise it for everybody.
0:31:43.083 - 0:31:46.833
So you just you need to haggle
like you need to do this
0:31:46.958 - 0:31:49.833
for the good of all so that it's just not
because they can see that
0:31:49.833 - 0:31:53.583
they can get away with five extra dollars
or rupees for you.
0:31:53.583 - 0:31:57.208
Then,
then everybody's going to be affected.
0:31:57.208 - 0:32:00.208
So bargain girl, bargain.
0:32:00.583 - 0:32:01.458
Oh my gosh.
0:32:01.458 - 0:32:04.583
So that's really like a responsibility
if you're especially
0:32:04.583 - 0:32:07.583
if you're doing it on camera
because you're basically setting
0:32:07.708 - 0:32:10.708
the rate for that thing, I guess.
0:32:10.708 - 0:32:13.458
I mean, that was what they said to me
in that moment in time.
0:32:13.458 - 0:32:17.333
Well, you know, when I was, when I was
in Morocco and we were in Marrakech,
0:32:17.583 - 0:32:22.208
we'd gotten there just a couple of weeks
after this was not for Globe Trekker.
0:32:22.208 - 0:32:23.083
This was something else.
0:32:23.083 - 0:32:26.583
I was there in the 80s, and Dustin Hoffman
0:32:26.833 - 0:32:31.208
had just done this huge,
massive multi-million dollar film
0:32:31.583 - 0:32:35.583
with Isabelle Adjani called Ishtar,
if I recall.
0:32:35.583 - 0:32:38.458
I can't believe any of this is coming back... Ishtar.
0:32:38.458 - 0:32:41.333
Like multi-million dollar film.
0:32:41.333 - 0:32:45.708
And Dustin Hoffman had gone to the markets
and basically paid
0:32:45.708 - 0:32:48.833
whatever the carpet sellers
were selling for.
0:32:48.833 - 0:32:50.333
He wasn't bargaining.
0:32:50.333 - 0:32:53.208
And so everybody was really distraught.
0:32:53.208 - 0:32:57.208
The the merchants in that part of Morocco,
Marrakech, were really distraught
0:32:57.208 - 0:33:00.583
because the economy for the carpets
0:33:01.708 - 0:33:02.833
was so,
0:33:02.833 - 0:33:06.458
volatile because nobody knew
what to charge anymore,
0:33:06.458 - 0:33:11.083
because Dustin Hoffman had paid
just just huge prices.
0:33:11.958 - 0:33:15.958
But like, he had bought out
so many of the stalls and he had paid
0:33:16.208 - 0:33:19.958
so much more money than they would
typically have sold them for,
0:33:20.458 - 0:33:24.166
and it kind of made me think, oh, gosh,
this whole bargaining thing,
0:33:24.916 - 0:33:29.083
you know, everybody on both sides
has to be really responsible.
0:33:29.333 - 0:33:31.708
It's not a one way street
0:33:31.708 - 0:33:35.958
figuring out the cost of things
that affects a whole community
0:33:35.958 - 0:33:40.083
It’s alien to our world in a way, like,
in England, “uh, no, I’ll just have that.”
0:33:40.083 - 0:33:43.583
But yeah, gotta haggle, oh, I love
Love a haggle.
0:33:44.333 - 0:33:47.333
Megan, how did you...?
After you done the first one,
0:33:47.333 - 0:33:50.583
when you got back home
How did it feel?
0:33:50.583 - 0:33:52.833
Was it like a dream? Was it surreal?
0:33:53.833 - 0:33:55.458
Well,
it didn't play out exactly like that.
0:33:55.458 - 0:33:59.083
So when I was offered the job,
they were like, “One show, one show only.”
0:33:59.083 - 0:34:00.208
“You're going to India.”
0:34:00.208 - 0:34:03.208
And my intention was just to stay there
because I was like,
0:34:03.208 - 0:34:04.083
I've got a little money.
0:34:04.083 - 0:34:06.958
I just paid off my student loan
and I could live in India.
0:34:06.958 - 0:34:08.083
That's great.
0:34:08.083 - 0:34:12.333
But toward the end of the shoot, there
was a Hawaii episode that was coming up
0:34:12.583 - 0:34:16.833
and the host, it wasn't either of you,
wasn't able to do it.
0:34:16.833 - 0:34:20.083
And so I saw, I heard Ian Cross call
0:34:20.083 - 0:34:23.833
the producer director of our show
and was asking questions about me.
0:34:23.833 - 0:34:28.958
And I watched this British
woman go, “Oh, yes, she's... brilliant.”
0:34:29.083 - 0:34:31.583
And, you know, like when British
people call you brilliant,
0:34:31.583 - 0:34:33.958
it doesn't necessarily mean
you are brilliant.
0:34:33.958 - 0:34:36.958
So I watched her say that
0:34:36.958 - 0:34:37.708
Yeah.
0:34:37.708 - 0:34:39.083
And she couldn't really like,
0:34:39.083 - 0:34:41.208
give him a full report
because I was sitting right there.
0:34:41.208 - 0:34:42.958
And so then he got on the phone,
he's like,
0:34:42.958 - 0:34:46.958
“Well, if you can, there's another episode
in Hawaii and we need a host for it.”
0:34:47.208 - 0:34:48.583
So I flew from Delhi.
0:34:48.583 - 0:34:52.458
I had one night in New York City,
my friend worked at the Marriott Marquee
0:34:52.458 - 0:34:55.833
in Times Square,
so she put me up for $30 employee rate.
0:34:56.083 - 0:34:58.166
And then the day
after that, I flew to Hawaii,
0:34:59.041 - 0:35:01.833
It’s the most isolated island on the planet.
0:35:01.833 - 0:35:05.583
Some say it's paradise on Earth
0:35:05.583 - 0:35:08.583
surrounded by the biggest waves in the world
0:35:10.958 - 0:35:14.333
Hawaii!
0:35:22.291 - 0:35:23.583
Ian, you told me something
0:35:23.583 - 0:35:26.583
about how the show was initially
0:35:27.083 - 0:35:30.083
sort of conceived
to be one presenter at a time. Yes.
0:35:30.333 - 0:35:31.833
What was that? Tell me that again.
0:35:31.833 - 0:35:35.916
The original idea of the, program
for getting the presenters
0:35:35.916 - 0:35:37.958
was going to be every single--
0:35:37.958 - 0:35:40.958
So they were batches of six
they went out with.
0:35:41.083 - 0:35:45.833
So every single program would be different
presenters on each episode,
0:35:45.833 - 0:35:48.708
and then you wouldn't see them again.
Thinking the freshness of it,
0:35:48.708 - 0:35:49.833
that might be quite good.
0:35:49.833 - 0:35:50.833
So you've got, you know,
0:35:50.833 - 0:35:54.333
you've got so many different views
of different things and quite interesting.
0:35:54.583 - 0:35:58.583
Plus probably financial,
you know, don't have to pay them so much
0:35:58.583 - 0:36:01.583
because they don't know nothing about telly
like we didn't know when we first done it.
0:36:01.708 - 0:36:03.208
“Oh yeah. I’ll do it for a tenner.”
0:36:03.208 - 0:36:05.708
“Oh thanks. Yeah.”
Which I bloody would’ven done.
0:36:05.708 - 0:36:11.208
God, anywhere. To get that phone call
for Hawaii straightaway is just
0:36:11.500 - 0:36:13.708
It just must have been, This is.
0:36:13.708 - 0:36:15.208
It's just too good.
0:36:15.208 - 0:36:21.375
I remember when I first did the first few,
I was like, please god,
0:36:22.041 - 0:36:23.583
I'll never pray to you again, but,
0:36:25.083 - 0:36:25.958
can if I can
0:36:25.958 - 0:36:29.458
get three-- If I can squeeze
three years out of this
0:36:29.833 - 0:36:34.583
I won't ask for anything else,
you know, because that seemed so absurd.
0:36:34.583 - 0:36:36.458
And then we were there for ages.
0:36:36.458 - 0:36:38.708
Yeah. Just madness, isn't it?
0:36:38.708 - 0:36:39.958
Oh, man.
0:36:39.958 - 0:36:42.458
When you got back from Hawaii
did it feel madness?
0:36:42.458 - 0:36:44.333
Yeah.
0:36:44.333 - 0:36:44.833
I mean, how did you feel?
0:36:44.833 - 0:36:49.333
I mean, Hawaii was just a little easier
because I was like, okay,
0:36:49.458 - 0:36:51.333
when I was in Hawaii,
I was like, well, by now
0:36:51.333 - 0:36:54.458
they're looking at the rushes from India
and I'm never going to work again.
0:36:54.583 - 0:36:56.458
Like they're going to see
right through me.
0:36:56.458 - 0:36:59.208
They're going to be like,
“What was that hot mess?”
0:36:59.208 - 0:36:59.958
And now it yeah.
0:36:59.958 - 0:37:04.083
So I was like, okay, so I'm just going to
I relaxed a little bit.
0:37:04.083 - 0:37:06.458
I was like,
I wasn't putting any pressure on myself
0:37:06.458 - 0:37:09.083
because in my mind it was like,
I'm busted.
0:37:09.083 - 0:37:11.458
They know. I'm done.
0:37:11.458 - 0:37:12.708
And then they gave me a show.
0:37:12.708 - 0:37:15.083
The third show was Egypt.
0:37:16.083 - 0:37:18.458
- And then it was...
- How far was that from when you came back?
0:37:18.458 - 0:37:19.583
A couple of months.
0:37:19.583 - 0:37:20.583
It wasn't long.
0:37:20.583 - 0:37:22.708
They kept you sweating a little bit?
0:37:22.708 - 0:37:23.208
Oh yeah.
0:37:23.208 - 0:37:25.833
He's kept me sweating for years.
0:37:25.833 - 0:37:26.583
For years.
0:37:26.583 - 0:37:29.416
Ian would be like, “One more show.
That's the last one.”
0:37:29.416 - 0:37:30.916
“Don’t get your hopes up, kid.”
0:37:30.916 - 0:37:32.833
- Yeah, yeah.
- That's kind of how it was for me.
0:37:32.833 - 0:37:35.208
Well, when I did Brazil, that was exactly.
0:37:35.208 - 0:37:38.583
I was shitting meself. First one.
0:37:38.583 - 0:37:39.583
Just.
0:37:39.583 - 0:37:41.458
I was just, What am I going to do?
0:37:41.458 - 0:37:42.833
I've never done this before.
0:37:42.833 - 0:37:43.958
Are you mad?
0:37:43.958 - 0:37:46.208
All this money, all this organization.
0:37:46.208 - 0:37:48.708
And I'm the monkey in front of the camera.
That's me.
0:37:48.708 - 0:37:51.708
And I just. And then two--
0:37:51.708 - 0:37:52.583
I'm always like that,
0:37:52.583 - 0:37:55.458
And then three days before I left, I just thought
0:37:55.458 - 0:37:58.333
“Actually, I don’t actually care at all.” Because,
0:37:59.833 - 0:38:01.208
you can't-- I've been to--
0:38:01.208 - 0:38:04.708
I would have been to Brazil
for four weeks of my life.
0:38:04.833 - 0:38:06.333
And you can't take that away from me.
0:38:06.333 - 0:38:08.708
Even if I'd screwed the whole thing up.
0:38:08.708 - 0:38:11.708
“So what? I'm going to Brazil for four weeks!”
0:38:11.833 - 0:38:14.666
because that was the action that you thought
you was only doing one.
0:38:14.666 - 0:38:16.333
- Wow.
- Yeah.
0:38:16.708 - 0:38:19.583
And the crazy thing is, you know,
at that time, the people who were deciding
0:38:19.583 - 0:38:24.083
whether we stayed or not
initially were kind of the suits.
0:38:24.083 - 0:38:26.833
And then I guess at some point they
0:38:26.833 - 0:38:30.208
I don't know how they figured out
that our audiences liked us.
0:38:30.208 - 0:38:32.833
I mean, it wasn't like today
where with social media,
0:38:32.833 - 0:38:36.458
you know immediately who's watching you
and for how long and where they're from
0:38:36.458 - 0:38:37.458
and how old they are.
0:38:37.458 - 0:38:41.208
And like, you know, the analytics of who
your audience is.
0:38:41.208 - 0:38:41.958
It's just
0:38:41.958 - 0:38:44.458
it's like the thing you know now.
0:38:44.458 - 0:38:47.208
But we didn't know
who was watching us back then.
0:38:47.208 - 0:38:51.458
I mean, I didn't really have a sense
that I was speaking to an audience.
0:38:51.458 - 0:38:53.583
- Did you guys?
- Are you kidding me?
0:38:53.583 - 0:38:57.458
If any part of my brain had allowed
that in, there's no way
0:38:57.458 - 0:38:59.083
I would have been able to do it.
0:38:59.083 - 0:39:01.458
I just didn't make any sense to me.
0:39:01.458 - 0:39:06.708
Yeah, but I remember when it was weird
when the first program came out,
0:39:06.708 - 0:39:11.208
because then you're gone
from being someone that you'd just gone
0:39:11.208 - 0:39:14.833
on a jolly filming, and you still can't
really mentally deal with that,
0:39:15.083 - 0:39:19.833
to now it's shown on television
and now at 1 or 2,
0:39:20.333 - 0:39:23.208
“Oh, did you do that program the other day?”
0:39:23.208 - 0:39:25.083
That’s weird.
0:39:25.083 - 0:39:26.958
When you start getting recognized.
0:39:26.958 - 0:39:31.083
Well, and and it's just the physical thing
of it coming out on telly
0:39:31.708 - 0:39:35.458
and you know, people were like,
“I was in the kitchen, I heard your voice.”
0:39:35.708 - 0:39:39.833
“I went in there, you was on the telly!”
I'm like, this is the first time I knew.
0:39:39.833 - 0:39:40.458
And it's just--
0:39:40.458 - 0:39:45.083
And then people, you know,
and then writing articles and stuff,
0:39:45.083 - 0:39:48.458
you know, that sort of slow ball
that was all that really scared
0:39:48.458 - 0:39:53.208
the jeebies at me, all that that was hard
to like, deal with.
0:39:53.333 - 0:39:57.333
And when when people watched Globe Trekker, Lonely Planet,
0:39:57.958 - 0:40:00.458
they saw quite a lot of it
because they were watching on
0:40:00.458 - 0:40:03.458
actual television screens,
not on tiny little phones.
0:40:03.458 - 0:40:05.083
Yeah.
0:40:05.083 - 0:40:06.583
Didn’t you get bitten by a monkey?
0:40:06.583 - 0:40:07.958
Somebody got bitten by a monkey.
0:40:07.958 - 0:40:10.083
Oh, that was Jez in Vietnam.
0:40:10.083 - 0:40:13.458
Jez was bitten by a monkey
and had to get a rabies shot.
0:40:14.458 - 0:40:14.833
Yeah.
0:40:14.833 - 0:40:17.833
And our director in Nepal
got bit up the ass by a monkey
0:40:18.208 - 0:40:21.208
- Up the ass?
- Which was hilarious.
0:40:21.708 - 0:40:24.333
How do you do that. Well what position was he in?
0:40:24.333 - 0:40:25.708
Did he sit on it by accident?
0:40:25.708 - 0:40:28.083
- Or was he climbing a tree?
- He stood on the baby monkey.
0:40:28.083 - 0:40:31.458
I was in the monkey temple in Kathmandu.
0:40:31.708 - 0:40:33.208
And we're like,
the monkeys are everywhere.
0:40:33.208 - 0:40:34.708
There's macaques
0:40:34.708 - 0:40:37.708
that would’ve ripped you to shreds
within three seconds.
0:40:37.833 - 0:40:40.833
I mean, yeah, they look fun, but,
you know you're going down
0:40:41.083 - 0:40:41.833
and they're everywhere.
0:40:41.833 - 0:40:44.208
And we was like,
how do the monks deal with it?
0:40:44.208 - 0:40:45.208
And then we look up there
0:40:45.208 - 0:40:48.208
and the monks got a big bamboo
and all these monkeys are like
0:40:49.833 - 0:40:50.833
And we was--
0:40:50.833 - 0:40:52.333
I was standing in the middle,
0:40:52.333 - 0:40:55.958
and the director, Carl Hindmarch
0:40:55.958 - 0:40:57.583
had a super-8,
0:40:57.583 - 0:41:00.458
Remember you used to have them super 8 cameras,
The film cameras.
0:41:00.458 - 0:41:03.708
He was walking ‘round me and I could see
all these monkeys on the floor and I’m thinking,
0:41:03.708 - 0:41:05.583
“He must know.”
0:41:05.583 - 0:41:06.083
And he was like--
0:41:06.083 - 0:41:09.208
Anyway, walked on,
And then he off and stood on this baby,
0:41:09.708 - 0:41:13.208
and flicked it off with his foot, and I was like, oh.
0:41:13.208 - 0:41:14.083
And the rest of them were
0:41:15.708 - 0:41:17.333
and they were like, we was like, oh my god,
0:41:17.333 - 0:41:19.208
there was like monkeys
0:41:19.208 - 0:41:22.333
And then he hid behind me
and pushing me forward.
0:41:22.708 - 0:41:24.708
And then but they knew it was him.
0:41:24.708 - 0:41:28.208
And then a monkey out of a tree just came
on, grabbed to the back of his belt
0:41:28.333 - 0:41:29.958
and just went
0:41:29.958 - 0:41:32.958
and took a big bite out of his ass.
0:41:33.458 - 0:41:35.958
And then he was like, like
like we do as blokes, we’re like
0:41:35.958 - 0:41:38.958
“No, no don’t worry about it, it’s nothing.
Didn’t even break the skin.”
0:41:38.958 - 0:41:42.208
And then he pulled his trousers down,
and it was like a cartoon monkey bite
0:41:42.208 - 0:41:44.333
on his-- all blood and everything.
0:41:44.333 - 0:41:46.333
And we was like, shit.
0:41:46.333 - 0:41:49.333
So we went, we're like,
oh my god, went back into the van,
0:41:49.333 - 0:41:51.083
And we was actually reading.
0:41:51.083 - 0:41:56.083
Chris was reading the Lonely Planet book to
see what see what it says, and it says,
0:41:56.083 - 0:42:00.333
be careful with the monkeys at the temples
because they always fight with dogs,
0:42:00.333 - 0:42:02.958
so there's a high chance
that monkeys could have rabies.
0:42:02.958 - 0:42:06.208
So if you get bit up,
if you get bit by a monkey,
0:42:06.333 - 0:42:10.083
go to a doctors,
or death could be imminent
0:42:10.958 - 0:42:13.333
And we was like, ah okay
0:42:13.333 - 0:42:17.833
And he was like--
Down there, rabies injection
0:42:18.833 - 0:42:19.833
Hilarious
0:42:19.833 - 0:42:20.583
I mean, give it.
0:42:20.583 - 0:42:24.708
Given that there was no health
and safety whatsoever, I can't believe.
0:42:25.583 - 0:42:27.583
I can't believe we all, like that
0:42:27.583 - 0:42:29.833
nobody was killed
in the making of that show.
0:42:29.833 - 0:42:33.333
Ian, I just found a shot of you literally
0:42:33.458 - 0:42:37.208
jumping across a small waterfall.
0:42:37.333 - 0:42:40.333
You nearly don't make it
0:42:40.666 - 0:42:41.458
Blimey.
0:42:41.458 - 0:42:44.333
There's another one of you jumping between trains.
0:42:44.708 - 0:42:48.208
But this one, you jumping
across this part of a waterfall.
0:42:48.583 - 0:42:51.083
I mean, you nearly didn't make it.
0:42:51.083 - 0:42:51.583
You don't know.
0:42:51.583 - 0:42:53.333
Do you even know what I'm talking about?
0:42:53.333 - 0:42:55.208
No, that's how old I am now.
0:42:55.208 - 0:42:57.458
But it also even like when you see
0:42:57.458 - 0:43:01.333
see the programs, you've forgotten
certain things because you've had
0:43:01.333 - 0:43:05.458
so many experiences
that it's like some little things
0:43:05.458 - 0:43:07.083
you forget, like that.
0:43:07.083 - 0:43:10.083
If I saw it, I'd be like,
oh god of course,
0:43:10.083 - 0:43:12.208
of course
I remember it. But when you're there,
0:43:13.333 - 0:43:15.458
you just move on to the next thing,
you watch the show
0:43:15.458 - 0:43:17.833
and you do the voiceover
and you never think about it again.
0:43:17.833 - 0:43:19.958
But there was always I had a limit.
0:43:19.958 - 0:43:22.083
There was always,
I'd never want to die for telly.
0:43:22.083 - 0:43:22.958
I couldn't think that.
0:43:22.958 - 0:43:25.333
How dull and stupid that would be.
0:43:25.333 - 0:43:29.083
So most things like jumping from the top
of trains, you, you knew you could do it.
0:43:29.708 - 0:43:30.958
There's only a few things.
0:43:30.958 - 0:43:35.833
When I saw the Cuba one recently,
when I'm on the, like a rodeo on a bull.
0:43:36.458 - 0:43:39.458
This has got to be
the most stupidest thing I've ever done.
0:43:39.458 - 0:43:44.208
No, like, they only drag out a little
baby one, but it's got, you know, horns.
0:43:44.208 - 0:43:47.208
If you fall on that, it's
not gonna do you too well.
0:43:54.041 - 0:43:56.708
You weren't filling in forms of health
and safety and like,
0:43:56.833 - 0:43:58.583
you know, and it's going to somebody who’s like
0:43:58.583 - 0:44:01.333
Well, just gonna take the assessment on that.
0:44:01.333 - 0:44:02.833
No chance.
0:44:02.833 - 0:44:06.833
Did did anything do you remember
scary moments for you or Megan
0:44:06.833 - 0:44:11.833
when you were kind of when you went
further than you might normally?
0:44:12.458 - 0:44:16.083
Because the crew's,
like counting on you, right?
0:44:16.083 - 0:44:16.708
You've got.
0:44:16.708 - 0:44:17.083
Yeah.
0:44:17.083 - 0:44:19.833
They're counting on you to do this thing.
0:44:19.833 - 0:44:20.833
Yeah. For sure.
0:44:20.833 - 0:44:24.833
I mean, the the gem mine in Sri
Lanka is famous
0:44:24.833 - 0:44:28.958
like in my lived experience
because that was so freaking dangerous.
0:44:28.958 - 0:44:30.208
The man on this.
0:44:30.208 - 0:44:32.958
I cannot tell you how scared I am of this.
0:44:32.958 - 0:44:35.083
Oh, my gosh, hold on tight.
0:44:35.083 - 0:44:39.333
It was climbing down with these wooden
logs that are pretty far apart,
0:44:39.333 - 0:44:42.708
that are slippery because it's very humid
and so climbing down
0:44:42.708 - 0:44:46.708
like 200ft into the ground
and then going through these tunnels
0:44:47.083 - 0:44:49.833
where the water was up to our thighs.
0:44:50.333 - 0:44:52.875
Okay, this is not at all what I was expecting.
0:44:54.333 - 0:44:57.333
It's slimy, it’s rocky
0:44:57.583 - 0:44:59.208
It's hot.
0:44:59.208 - 0:45:01.333
Why am I here?
0:45:01.333 - 0:45:03.583
Because we don't know
exactly where we're heading.
0:45:03.583 - 0:45:06.458
And we head into this one little room,
and I can't really breathe.
0:45:06.458 - 0:45:09.458
And then somebody was like,
there are methane gases down here.
0:45:09.583 - 0:45:12.458
But it is so hot down here.
0:45:12.458 - 0:45:14.458
Very hard to breathe.
0:45:14.458 - 0:45:16.958
I don't know how much longer
I want to stay.
0:45:16.958 - 0:45:20.708
Then finally, the I think it was Neil
Harvey again who was the cameraman.
0:45:20.708 - 0:45:24.333
He was like, “Do you know what?
This is actually really dangerous.”
0:45:24.333 - 0:45:27.958
And so we all all of these electronics
are now like with the water
0:45:27.958 - 0:45:31.833
up to here and weird bugs floating around
are crawling back out of the tunnel.
0:45:32.208 - 0:45:35.208
to climb up 200ft
0:45:35.208 - 0:45:38.458
and we come out, we emerge
and we're just, like, dirty and slimy.
0:45:38.458 - 0:45:40.083
And I was physically shaking.
0:45:40.083 - 0:45:45.083
It was probably one of the scariest
experiences of my entire life.
0:45:46.083 - 0:45:47.083
Oh my God.
0:45:47.083 - 0:45:50.958
So then coming up and just kind of like,
okay, okay, that was a big one.
0:45:50.958 - 0:45:52.958
So yeah. Yeah, yeah.
0:45:52.958 - 0:45:55.833
That was that story sums it up completely.
0:45:55.833 - 0:45:58.458
You going down in the mine, you don't
even know what you're going to do.
0:45:58.458 - 0:46:01.458
You don't know where you're going,
but going further and further
0:46:01.708 - 0:46:04.833
and then the air is running out
and you smelling gas and everyone's
0:46:04.833 - 0:46:08.333
knackered and it's like,
oh, let's go back again.
0:46:08.833 - 0:46:11.208
Nothing here. That's insane.
0:46:11.208 - 0:46:13.333
- Yeah.
- Oh, that’s brilliant, that is.
0:46:13.333 - 0:46:14.708
And what was the other one you were going to say?
0:46:14.708 - 0:46:17.958
The other quick one was after
I had my daughter.
0:46:17.958 - 0:46:21.208
So now I'm a mom and the parent
in the world doing these things.
0:46:21.583 - 0:46:24.958
And we were in this south
southeastern states.
0:46:24.958 - 0:46:27.083
- I don't know what that was
- In the US.
0:46:27.083 - 0:46:29.583
In the US, southeastern USA.
0:46:29.583 - 0:46:33.083
And we were doing a story
about like an air like, a flying story.
0:46:33.083 - 0:46:35.583
And they're like,
you can stand on the wing of this airplane
0:46:35.583 - 0:46:37.833
like they do,
like a propeller plane, right?
0:46:37.833 - 0:46:38.708
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:46:38.708 - 0:46:39.333
Two layers.
0:46:39.333 - 0:46:40.958
And so they had this apparatus
0:46:40.958 - 0:46:43.708
and they were explaining to me that, no,
we don't really tie you in.
0:46:43.708 - 0:46:47.583
There's no real thing to keep you safe
because there's the force of the wind
0:46:47.583 - 0:46:48.833
and the motion of the plane
0:46:48.833 - 0:46:51.958
will just keep you pushed back against this
when you go up in the air.
0:46:52.333 - 0:46:55.333
And I'm like, “Yo, I don't know about that.”
0:46:55.708 - 0:46:59.458
And so they're all discussing it
and they are at this point calling the office
0:46:59.458 - 0:47:02.333
and making sure it's safe and like,
what is the liability
0:47:02.333 - 0:47:04.583
and the producers like, “Megan
I really don't want you to do it.”
0:47:04.583 - 0:47:06.083
I was like, “But I think I can do it.”
0:47:06.083 - 0:47:08.208
It makes sense. Like physics, yo.
0:47:08.208 - 0:47:10.833
And then I'm standing up there
and then it starts to rain.
0:47:10.833 - 0:47:12.958
And then they're like,
we're just about to take off.
0:47:12.958 - 0:47:13.958
And then they stop there like,
0:47:13.958 - 0:47:17.083
we can't do it if it's raining, obviously,
because even if it's light
0:47:17.083 - 0:47:20.708
rain, every pellet as you go forward
feels like it's a small bullet.
0:47:21.083 - 0:47:22.208
And I was starting to feel that.
0:47:22.208 - 0:47:25.333
So it was wild because I had to really,
like make a decision
0:47:25.333 - 0:47:28.083
to do it, commit to saying,
yeah, I'm good with it.
0:47:28.083 - 0:47:29.458
We start to take off.
0:47:29.458 - 0:47:30.583
So I'm overcoming my fear.
0:47:30.583 - 0:47:32.833
And then he goes, we don't do it.
0:47:32.833 - 0:47:36.083
So I feel like that is a box
I still want to check off.
0:47:36.208 - 0:47:36.833
That's good to say.
0:47:36.833 - 0:47:39.208
I bet you was absolutely gutted.
0:47:39.208 - 0:47:40.208
I was really annoyed.
0:47:40.208 - 0:47:42.833
Yeah, I really wanted to do it
because I, I trusted it.
0:47:42.833 - 0:47:45.333
I actually trusted everything about it.
0:47:45.333 - 0:47:48.583
And the excitement of doing it as well, I'm almost jealous.
0:47:48.583 - 0:47:50.208
I was like, yeah, I'd like to do that.
0:47:50.208 - 0:47:51.458
I want to do it.
0:47:51.458 - 0:47:54.708
Somebody, somebody make the show
happen again and send me back to do that.
0:47:54.833 - 0:47:57.083
Can I just say the thing with the
no straps?
0:47:57.083 - 0:47:59.583
Is, was that just a joke to wind you up?
0:47:59.583 - 0:48:01.583
- No it was true.
- Stop it.
0:48:01.583 - 0:48:03.333
- They must have had straps!
- It was like a little--
0:48:03.333 - 0:48:04.458
There was a little flimsy
0:48:04.458 - 0:48:07.583
belt that wasn't going to do anything
if anything went wrong.
0:48:08.208 - 0:48:11.583
No, it was like not designed for
0:48:11.583 - 0:48:13.458
health or safety.
0:48:13.458 - 0:48:15.083
Yeah. It was wild,
Oh why, we're going forward,
0:48:15.083 - 0:48:16.458
The wind will keep you in.
0:48:16.458 - 0:48:18.708
Yeah. You’re going forward.
So it's pushing you back.
0:48:18.708 - 0:48:22.083
And then I was like, “What about the end
when we're slowing down?”
0:48:22.083 - 0:48:24.500
“Don't worry, the other forces will keep your body down.”
0:48:24.500 - 0:48:25.333
What other forces?
0:48:25.583 - 0:48:28.583
- What are we talking about?
- The forces, Ian. The forces!
0:48:28.958 - 0:48:30.333
Those other forces!
0:48:31.958 - 0:48:32.708
Oh man.
0:48:32.708 - 0:48:33.708
Yeah.
It's like we said.
0:48:33.708 - 0:48:35.958
How come someone didn't die?
0:48:35.958 - 0:48:37.833
I don't know.
Madness, man.
0:48:37.833 - 0:48:39.583
Wouldn’t change it for the world.
0:48:39.583 - 0:48:44.083
No. Well, that was it, of course,
because it was exciting to do as well.
0:48:44.333 - 0:48:46.958
And if you knew, if you could push it
like something like that,
0:48:46.958 - 0:48:49.958
go on the bloody plane
with no straps
0:48:49.958 - 0:48:52.708
when someone sees that program,
they're going to go,
0:48:52.708 - 0:48:56.958
“That is mental. She is nuts
doing that.” Yeah?
0:48:56.958 - 0:49:00.833
And then a good program is, the next day
someone's going
0:49:00.958 - 0:49:03.166
“Did you see Megan on the top of that bloody...?”
0:49:03.166 - 0:49:06.333
I'm like, “Yeah, she didn't even...
she wasn't even strapped in
0:49:06.458 - 0:49:11.083
when she went up there.”
I mean that's what makes a great program.
0:49:11.083 - 0:49:13.333
as well, just these little crazy moments.
0:49:13.333 - 0:49:16.958
Well and also from our perspective
we are seeing as presenters,
0:49:16.958 - 0:49:21.833
we're seeing the camera person, you know,
tethering themselves to the front of the
0:49:21.833 - 0:49:25.458
truck or on the top of a truck or,
you know, you know,
0:49:25.708 - 0:49:31.083
hanging out the side of a helicopter,
what seemed to us, incredible risks.
0:49:31.083 - 0:49:31.333
Yeah.
0:49:31.333 - 0:49:35.833
Well, they were psychos really. Seriously.
In an absolute positive way.
0:49:36.083 - 0:49:36.958
Yeah. Because they--
0:49:37.958 - 0:49:39.833
We're not even in their league.
0:49:39.833 - 0:49:42.958
You know, they're not happy
unless they got one arm and the camera on there
0:49:42.958 - 0:49:45.958
and then the heavier the camera,
swinging from the helicopter,
0:49:46.333 - 0:49:50.458
you know, going past you and that.
Hanging off the side of a truck or a train.
0:49:50.833 - 0:49:51.708
They love it.
0:49:51.708 - 0:49:53.208
They live for that.
0:49:53.208 - 0:49:54.958
Yeah. They are a particular breed.
0:49:54.958 - 0:49:56.333
-The Globe Trekker...
- Yeah.
0:49:56.333 - 0:49:57.958
Camera sound teams like.
0:49:57.958 - 0:50:01.833
Really high level,
like really good artistically.
0:50:02.083 - 0:50:05.458
And they would each kind of
have their own signature style.
0:50:05.458 - 0:50:05.833
Right.
0:50:05.833 - 0:50:09.708
So like Nigel Kinnings was lighting things
beautifully and Neil Harvey
0:50:09.708 - 0:50:11.333
was like hanging out of places.
0:50:11.333 - 0:50:13.958
And you know, they all had
just such different signatures
0:50:13.958 - 0:50:16.958
that became such a big part
of what we were doing.
0:50:16.958 - 0:50:17.333
Yeah.
0:50:17.333 - 0:50:20.583
And so good at that,
because I think if you are a cameraman,
0:50:21.208 - 0:50:24.583
your thing is travel,
then you've done it so often.
0:50:24.583 - 0:50:28.833
So you're so switched on
and Simon Niblett was the nuttiest.
0:50:30.458 - 0:50:33.083
You got any stabilizers?
0:50:33.083 - 0:50:34.333
Whoo
0:50:34.333 - 0:50:37.333
And Tim Knight
0:50:47.708 - 0:50:48.208
Yeah.
0:50:48.208 - 0:50:51.208
- Georgie Georgie Georgie
- Oh, Georgie Burrell
0:50:58.958 - 0:51:02.208
Ah. Too much excitement.
0:51:02.208 - 0:51:05.083
And Lynn
0:51:10.208 - 0:51:12.083
Lynn was amazing.
0:51:12.083 - 0:51:12.833
Yeah, they always had--
0:51:12.833 - 0:51:15.333
We had to make sure that our van
had a slide door.
0:51:15.333 - 0:51:19.208
That a sliding side door
that can stay open
0:51:19.208 - 0:51:22.458
because they were often hanging out of it
for the drive bys.
0:51:22.833 - 0:51:23.333
Yeah.
0:51:23.333 - 0:51:26.958
And keeping the camera
that far from the road,
0:51:27.083 - 0:51:31.083
filming, hanging out, upside down,
right on the floor.
0:51:31.208 - 0:51:34.208
And loving every minute of it.
0:51:34.208 - 0:51:36.333
And rightly so. Because
0:51:36.333 - 0:51:40.583
Because they know that that little bit
extra is just going to make it. Wow.
0:51:43.083 - 0:51:46.083
And the photography
was extraordinary on that, wasn't it?
0:51:46.083 - 0:51:46.458
Oh, God.
0:51:46.458 - 0:51:49.583
I remember we would
we would do a three hour detour
0:51:49.583 - 0:51:54.958
just to get to a high enough point
where we could get a one GV, a general view
0:51:54.958 - 0:51:58.458
an establishing shot of a coal
powered steam train going past.
0:51:58.708 - 0:52:02.958
And so we drove three hours for,
you know, a ten second shot.
0:52:03.208 - 0:52:03.583
Yeah.
0:52:03.583 - 0:52:06.583
And that was before
Go, GoPros or anything like that.
0:52:06.833 - 0:52:10.458
- Or, you know, the little helicopters that--
- Dones.
0:52:10.458 - 0:52:11.708
There were no drones.
0:52:11.708 - 0:52:14.083
- There were no drones.
- Yes. Yeah.
0:52:14.083 - 0:52:18.583
I remember the the opening pieces to
camera were always the sort of
0:52:18.708 - 0:52:19.833
like the signature thing.
0:52:19.833 - 0:52:22.208
The directors,
they were thinking about the opening piece
0:52:22.208 - 0:52:25.333
to camera from the very beginning,
like it had to be this great opening
0:52:25.333 - 0:52:27.333
that would capture the eyeballs
of the audience,
0:52:27.333 - 0:52:30.208
something really dynamic,
and they'd be thinking about it
0:52:30.208 - 0:52:31.833
the whole time, like,
“Where's the best place to do it?
0:52:31.833 - 0:52:32.833
Where's the best place to do it?”
0:52:32.833 - 0:52:35.833
Everybody always wanted, you know,
if they could, to get a helicopter.
0:52:35.833 - 0:52:38.083
And that's when the producer would,
you know, often
0:52:38.083 - 0:52:41.958
just exchange sexual favors or whatever
just to get the helicopter
0:52:41.958 - 0:52:44.833
because there was no other way
to get an aerial shot.
0:52:44.833 - 0:52:49.708
Cowboys, Indians, vast desert,
open road, fast food, UFOs.
0:52:50.333 - 0:52:53.333
I always thought
I'd have to travel outside my own country
0:52:53.458 - 0:52:56.083
if I wanted to see something special,
0:52:56.083 - 0:52:59.208
but sometimes you don't have to look
any further than your own backyard.
0:52:59.708 - 0:53:00.833
And what a backyard.
0:53:04.208 - 0:53:05.583
Yeah, I've seen your openers,
0:53:05.583 - 0:53:07.583
Yeah. You're right. Brilliant.
0:53:07.583 - 0:53:11.750
I mean, I wondered how you got
such incredible views.
0:53:11.750 - 0:53:14.958
Mexico!
0:53:17.083 - 0:53:20.083
I used to fucking hate opening pieces to cameras.
0:53:20.458 - 0:53:21.833
You hated them, why?
0:53:21.833 - 0:53:23.708
- Doing them.
- Doing them?
0:53:23.708 - 0:53:25.208
Because it sets up the whole show.
0:53:25.208 - 0:53:26.458
And so it has to be, like you’re saying
0:53:26.458 - 0:53:29.708
perfect look and everything,
and it's the most important shot.
0:53:30.833 - 0:53:34.333
But because it was it,
it was like a Shakespearean sonnet
0:53:34.833 - 0:53:37.583
which was like so long and so,
0:53:37.583 - 0:53:40.083
nothing
of how I'd speak or in my language.
0:53:40.083 - 0:53:45.833
So, so I'd have to felt like I read it
like an actor, like Ian McKellen.
0:53:45.833 - 0:53:51.583
I'm in a place that’s suffered more in the past
decade than any other country
0:53:51.833 - 0:53:54.791
from famine, poverty, or war.
But things are changing.
0:53:54.791 - 0:53:58.583
And for the hearty traveler,
this place has got everything.
0:53:58.583 - 0:54:01.125
Amazing culture, breathtaking scenery
0:54:01.125 - 0:54:03.375
stunning wildlife,
0:54:03.750 - 0:54:06.833
and more water than you can possibly imagine.
0:54:06.958 - 0:54:10.083
Believe it or not, this is Ethiopia.
0:54:11.958 - 0:54:14.958
And like you say, everyone looking at you,
you got the camera,
0:54:15.083 - 0:54:18.083
Brazil was first one. And god,
0:54:18.083 - 0:54:19.833
so you've got the camera there,
0:54:19.833 - 0:54:22.833
You can see your own reflection
in the camera.
0:54:22.958 - 0:54:26.083
Bad enough everyone out in the boat
just staring at ya.
0:54:26.583 - 0:54:29.458
Then you've got the camera,
you staring at yourself,
0:54:29.458 - 0:54:32.583
I, I couldn't do it.
In the end that we had to go back.
0:54:32.583 - 0:54:35.583
And I just went back with
just the cameraman and the director.
0:54:36.208 - 0:54:37.583
Oh. So easy. Yeah.
0:54:37.583 - 0:54:40.083
It's the most scripted
part of the show, right?
0:54:40.083 - 0:54:42.833
- I mean, that was kind of the amazing thing.
- Yeah.
0:54:42.833 - 0:54:45.958
I mean, Megan,
I don't know about you, but I was told
0:54:45.958 - 0:54:50.458
by a lot of people who knew
how television was made in the US.
0:54:50.708 - 0:54:52.208
They said, do you know how lucky you are
0:54:52.208 - 0:54:55.708
to have a job on television
where you're not scripted?
0:54:56.083 - 0:54:59.333
Yeah, it's kind of an interesting,
I think, aspect of the experience.
0:54:59.583 - 0:55:00.958
I don't know how it was for you guys.
0:55:00.958 - 0:55:03.083
It's like, I was-- I am who I am.
0:55:03.083 - 0:55:04.833
That's just kind of who I am.
0:55:04.833 - 0:55:06.833
And I feel like each of you are too.
0:55:06.833 - 0:55:10.958
And so then I, like friends,
and then people who would recognize
0:55:10.958 - 0:55:14.083
me would say they really felt
like they were traveling with each of us.
0:55:14.208 - 0:55:18.958
Like there wasn't like, it was like,
oh, we could be on this journey together.
0:55:18.958 - 0:55:21.958
Like my friend Ian and I are like on this adventure.
0:55:22.333 - 0:55:24.458
And now we're just sharing
this experience.
0:55:24.458 - 0:55:26.958
So, Megan, because you got on to the show.
0:55:26.958 - 0:55:30.833
I mean, I'd been an actress
or trying to be an actress for a while
0:55:30.833 - 0:55:32.208
before I got the show. So I,
0:55:33.208 - 0:55:33.708
you know, I was
0:55:33.708 - 0:55:37.833
sort of used to scripted stuff
and, you know, theater and memorizing
0:55:37.833 - 0:55:40.958
lots of things,
but you didn't come from that background.
0:55:40.958 - 0:55:44.833
So what was your relationship
to having to say stuff to camera?
0:55:44.833 - 0:55:47.583
Did you sort of
work it out in advance with the director?
0:55:47.583 - 0:55:48.583
Did you write it down?
0:55:48.583 - 0:55:51.583
Did you, as you got more comfortable,
were you able to
0:55:51.583 - 0:55:54.708
did you just start sort of saying things
spontaneously to camera?
0:55:54.833 - 0:55:58.958
At first it was definitely collaborative
with whoever was the director.
0:55:59.208 - 0:56:01.958
Then there's also just always
the spontaneous things
0:56:01.958 - 0:56:04.958
that we're doing that one can't,
we can't script it.
0:56:05.083 - 0:56:08.708
And maybe if I'd read ahead and understood
something bigger then
0:56:09.083 - 0:56:12.583
in the moment, I would try to integrate that
or it would come up naturally.
0:56:12.583 - 0:56:16.208
But for me, it was really
just such an experiential process
0:56:16.208 - 0:56:17.333
almost across the board.
0:56:17.333 - 0:56:20.708
And then, yeah, for sure, the longer
I did it, the more I was able to be like,
0:56:20.708 - 0:56:23.958
oh, so this is what we need
to get across here, okay.
0:56:24.458 - 0:56:27.333
But if it's heavily historic, I remember,
0:56:27.333 - 0:56:31.333
my last Globe Trekker
was glamorously in the rust
0:56:31.333 - 0:56:34.958
belt of the United States,
which is kind of where I come from.
0:56:35.583 - 0:56:39.833
So that was a bit strange, but I had a
long, historic piece in Pittsburgh.
0:56:39.833 - 0:56:43.333
It was like five different long things,
0:56:43.333 - 0:56:47.083
and I could not get it to save my life.
0:56:47.083 - 0:56:50.208
And I was a little out of practice,
it had been a while, and
0:56:50.208 - 0:56:53.208
it was just like the most painful,
long day.
0:56:53.458 - 0:56:58.083
It was like was at 1876 or 1874,
or like I would just get tripped up,
0:56:58.583 - 0:57:00.333
but it needed to be accurate
because we were trying
0:57:00.333 - 0:57:02.708
to disseminate information
in a really quick way.
0:57:02.708 - 0:57:05.458
Yeah, those are not my favorite moments
nor my best moments.
0:57:05.458 - 0:57:11.583
Well, Ian, you know, you I think you set
you set the tone for for me.
0:57:11.583 - 0:57:16.583
And I think for every presenter
because you were just being yourself
0:57:16.583 - 0:57:20.333
and speaking to camera and
you were so natural and it was, you know,
0:57:20.333 - 0:57:23.958
I mean, I've, I've heard people say that,
you know, that Anthony Bourdain's
0:57:24.583 - 0:57:28.208
kind of manner
and way of conveying things to camera,
0:57:28.583 - 0:57:32.833
that that was something that you,
you really did, and did so well
0:57:32.833 - 0:57:36.333
and kind of sort of that became
the standard for
0:57:36.333 - 0:57:39.208
for the show. You know,
that's what the directors wanted.
0:57:39.208 - 0:57:42.583
They wanted more of that
Ian way of just being real.
0:57:42.708 - 0:57:43.333
Right.
0:57:43.333 - 0:57:44.333
Yeah, I’d get that.
0:57:44.333 - 0:57:46.333
- “Could you do this more like Ian?”
- Uh oh, god yeah.
0:57:46.333 - 0:57:49.458
“Could you do this more like Ian or Justine?
Could you do it like Justine or Ian?”
0:57:49.458 - 0:57:52.458
I was like, “no, I can try.” Alright, mate.
0:57:54.583 - 0:57:57.458
Yeah I can feel the atmosphere
changing after that question.
0:57:57.458 - 0:58:00.458
I can feel
there's a something going on there.
0:58:00.708 - 0:58:04.208
Well, you know when, when I was,
when I was watching your show, Megan,
0:58:04.208 - 0:58:07.583
I saw, I was thinking,
okay, this is Megan's first show
0:58:08.208 - 0:58:12.208
and she is just one of these people
who will say yes to everything.
0:58:12.208 - 0:58:15.208
Have you always been that kind of person,
Megan, growing up,
0:58:15.208 - 0:58:18.583
you know where you were receptive to
0:58:18.583 - 0:58:21.583
what was being offered to you?
0:58:22.083 - 0:58:24.958
I mean,
I guess I grew up in a pretty small
0:58:24.958 - 0:58:28.458
way, you know,
I grew up in the suburbs of Tampa.
0:58:28.833 - 0:58:32.708
My first opportunity to, like, kind of
That's Florida right?
0:58:32.833 - 0:58:33.833
Tampa Florida. Yeah.
0:58:33.833 - 0:58:37.708
And I went to New York when I was 11
to study ballet for the first time.
0:58:37.708 - 0:58:40.958
I had a scholarship.
And that for me was like, woosh
0:58:42.208 - 0:58:43.708
- That’s crazy.
- The doors blew open.
0:58:43.708 - 0:58:44.333
Okay. Yeah.
0:58:44.333 - 0:58:48.083
Everybody different walks of life,
backgrounds, food,
0:58:48.083 - 0:58:50.083
smells, all of the energy of it.
0:58:50.083 - 0:58:53.083
I was like,
okay, there's a whole world out there.
0:58:53.083 - 0:58:57.208
And so New York was kind
of my first experience of that.
0:58:57.958 - 0:59:01.208
But I think, I don't know how you,
I mean, I've been with both of you
0:59:01.208 - 0:59:02.333
a little bit in the world,
0:59:02.333 - 0:59:06.208
and I've seen how you are with people
when there are not cameras on.
0:59:06.458 - 0:59:10.208
And I find you're both curious
and deeply caring
0:59:10.333 - 0:59:13.708
and thoughtful, just good, decent humans.
0:59:13.958 - 0:59:17.458
And there's a quality, I think, that comes
when you're traveling the way
0:59:17.458 - 0:59:20.208
that we traveled. It's like meeting
somebody is like,
0:59:20.208 - 0:59:22.458
this is an honor,
and I'm grateful to know you.
0:59:22.458 - 0:59:25.458
And I want to know your story,
and I want to be with you in a moment.
0:59:25.833 - 0:59:27.958
And I've watched both of you do that
in your own ways.
0:59:27.958 - 0:59:31.208
And I have always kind of
been like that, too.
0:59:31.583 - 0:59:35.083
Like even from,
like a young age, like, curious
0:59:35.083 - 0:59:39.208
about the neighbors
and the people and, yeah.
0:59:39.208 - 0:59:41.458
So I still have that, like,
I'm still like,
0:59:41.458 - 0:59:44.833
somebody once, what did
they said, it was “pathologically friendly”
0:59:45.208 - 0:59:48.583
So, like, I know everybody on my block.
0:59:48.583 - 0:59:52.583
I know everybody at the bodegas.
I ran into a guy from a bodega
0:59:52.583 - 0:59:57.083
that I used to go to 20 years ago,
and I couldn't believe he was in there.
0:59:57.333 - 0:59:59.083
His name is Mohammed. He's from Yemen.
0:59:59.083 - 1:00:02.333
And he looked at me and he was like,
how are you?
1:00:02.333 - 1:00:05.333
And I was like,
there is no way this guy remembers me,
1:00:05.458 - 1:00:08.583
But he did, because we just grow,
1:00:08.583 - 1:00:11.958
Like, I have this annoying phrase
that I'm latched onto at the moment
1:00:11.958 - 1:00:15.958
which is – we belong to each other.
Because I see so much division.
1:00:15.958 - 1:00:20.583
There's so much confusion
and so much, pain and anger.
1:00:20.583 - 1:00:23.708
I'm like, guys,
we actually belong to each other.
1:00:23.708 - 1:00:26.708
And it doesn't matter to me
what your background is or who you are.
1:00:26.833 - 1:00:31.333
So how do we find our way to what we share
in our human selves?
1:00:31.333 - 1:00:34.708
And so when I was doing Globe Trekker,
every story, every moment, I was like,
1:00:34.958 - 1:00:36.333
could it come through?
1:00:36.333 - 1:00:38.958
Like, how do we help see our shared humanity?
1:00:38.958 - 1:00:40.833
And I think when we did our job well
1:00:40.833 - 1:00:45.333
and when the show was coming through,
that's what was on offer.
1:00:45.333 - 1:00:46.583
And I really meant that.
1:00:46.583 - 1:00:48.583
I really cared a lot about that.
1:00:48.583 - 1:00:51.208
I wanted to ask you guys,
1:00:51.208 - 1:00:54.833
like when I knew I was going someplace,
like at the beginning.
1:00:55.208 - 1:00:57.083
I like my first few shows.
1:00:57.083 - 1:01:00.458
I read the Lonely Planet
Vietnam book cover to cover.
1:01:00.458 - 1:01:05.458
I read read the Lonely Planet, La Ruta Maya
book cover to cover, you know,
1:01:05.833 - 1:01:08.583
but I read other books, I watched,
1:01:08.583 - 1:01:13.333
you know, what I could find at the time
of a documentary, it was hard to find.
1:01:13.708 - 1:01:15.583
I mean, there was no internet, right?
1:01:15.583 - 1:01:19.208
So if you wanted to see something,
you'd have to go to the library and
1:01:19.833 - 1:01:23.208
find something on microfiche or a book,
1:01:23.458 - 1:01:26.333
or you'd find the distributor
of a documentary you heard about,
1:01:26.333 - 1:01:30.208
and then you'd call the distributor
and ask if you could rent their VHS,
1:01:30.208 - 1:01:33.833
and then they you'd have to send them
a check for $50, and then they would,
1:01:34.083 - 1:01:38.333
then they'd mail you the VHS tape, and
then you'd have three days to watch it.
1:01:38.333 - 1:01:40.583
Even I don’t know what you’re talking about now! wow.
1:01:40.583 - 1:01:42.333
Seriously, this is like back in the day.
1:01:42.333 - 1:01:45.833
If you wanted to watch a documentary
that had been on television,
1:01:46.083 - 1:01:49.458
you had to find the name
of the distributor, which was not easy.
1:01:49.458 - 1:01:51.083
There was no internet.
1:01:51.083 - 1:01:54.333
You call the distributor by phone,
telephone, landline.
1:01:54.708 - 1:01:56.583
Hey, I really would like to watch
this documentary.
1:01:56.583 - 1:01:58.708
I’m making a travel show in Vietnam.
1:01:58.708 - 1:02:00.708
I've heard that this documentary
is really good.
1:02:00.708 - 1:02:03.208
Well, yeah, we can send you VHS.
1:02:03.208 - 1:02:06.333
Just send us a check for $50
as your deposit.
1:02:06.708 - 1:02:10.083
But in any event, after a while,
I decided to stop
1:02:10.333 - 1:02:13.333
researching before I arrived someplace.
1:02:13.333 - 1:02:18.333
I just wanted to arrive as ignorant
as I truly was.
1:02:18.833 - 1:02:21.833
And I wonder how you guys approached,
1:02:21.833 - 1:02:25.833
you know, preparing for a shoot
in a place that you'd never been,
1:02:25.833 - 1:02:29.208
which was kind of every place
you made a Globe Trekker because
1:02:30.208 - 1:02:32.083
very few people have been to those places.
1:02:32.083 - 1:02:36.083
For me, my prep was like, definitely
1:02:36.083 - 1:02:39.333
the guidebook because The Lonely Planet
had a lot of good history.
1:02:39.333 - 1:02:41.083
I would start there and initially.
1:02:41.083 - 1:02:43.458
Yeah, like maybe something from an author.
1:02:43.458 - 1:02:46.958
But the one thing I consistently did
throughout and still do is
1:02:47.083 - 1:02:50.333
I really try to check out
what is the etiquette, what is rude,
1:02:50.333 - 1:02:53.583
what is impolite that I wouldn't know
that might catch me off guard?
1:02:53.583 - 1:02:58.458
Like if I put my feet toward a in a temple
like that's rude.
1:02:58.458 - 1:02:59.333
Or in Japan,
1:02:59.333 - 1:03:03.458
if you put your chopsticks in, the hashi,
into the rice, it's symbolic of death.
1:03:03.458 - 1:03:05.083
Or don't give somebody
in the number of three.
1:03:05.083 - 1:03:10.083
Like I still try to be mindful of things
like I might not be aware of
1:03:10.083 - 1:03:14.541
- that could be misperceived.
- But also that would make great telly.
1:03:14.541 - 1:03:18.458
You being told off because you put,
well chopsticks go right there
1:03:18.458 - 1:03:20.083
Like you’re making drums out of them
1:03:20.083 - 1:03:23.083
or I’ve got them here like
you know, there’s things because,
1:03:23.083 - 1:03:25.083
Because everyone gives leeway anyway.
1:03:25.083 - 1:03:29.333
Like, you know, someone's coming in
on you, like, it's almost funny to them.
1:03:29.333 - 1:03:30.958
It's like, look, look at them chopsticks.
1:03:30.958 - 1:03:32.708
Oh, yeah.
1:03:32.708 - 1:03:35.083
And then they'll tell you, you know,
you do it again and it's,
1:03:35.083 - 1:03:37.458
it gets a little bit dodgy
but yeah.
1:03:37.458 - 1:03:39.583
But that's how you find out isn't it.
1:03:39.583 - 1:03:42.208
- It's true.
- To be pulled up on it and stuff like that.
1:03:42.208 - 1:03:47.083
But even if we wanted to prepare, there
wasn't we couldn't have seen,
1:03:47.083 - 1:03:48.833
We couldn't have like hit a button
1:03:48.833 - 1:03:52.458
and like spent three hours
watching video from that place.
1:03:52.458 - 1:03:54.583
Like that just wasn't happening.
1:03:54.583 - 1:03:59.708
So, Megan, I saw the social media
that you did from India.
1:04:00.208 - 1:04:05.833
It was amazing to see you in India
25 years after you were last there.
1:04:06.208 - 1:04:10.958
So tell us a little bit
about what it was like 25 years later.
1:04:11.583 - 1:04:15.583
Just before and in India,
I was watching some of the
1:04:15.583 - 1:04:19.583
West India original program because all of
it was coming back to life in me.
1:04:19.583 - 1:04:24.958
So as long in distance as it felt, and I
haven't traveled like that in that way
1:04:24.958 - 1:04:30.333
for a while, that it was all like
it was like I was nervous to travel.
1:04:30.333 - 1:04:30.958
I was like, do I
1:04:30.958 - 1:04:32.958
have my travel skills?
1:04:32.958 - 1:04:35.958
Am I able to handle this level by myself?
1:04:35.958 - 1:04:37.833
Because you all know,
we were not alone.
1:04:37.833 - 1:04:42.583
We had teams of people making things smooth,
and when things were rough,
1:04:42.583 - 1:04:44.958
they would make them smooth as best
they could.
1:04:44.958 - 1:04:50.083
And so they were really the ones
that I was kind of guided by.
1:04:50.083 - 1:04:52.708
So here I am with my daughter,
who's just 20.
1:04:52.708 - 1:04:54.833
We arrive in Delhi, we arrive late.
1:04:54.833 - 1:04:57.708
We just like,
check into the grottiest hotel
1:04:57.708 - 1:04:59.458
that none of us
would have wanted to stay in.
1:04:59.458 - 1:05:03.083
We were not really clear on
what this is about, but that's our hotel.
1:05:03.833 - 1:05:07.333
Hotel Godwin.
It took 22 hours to get here.
1:05:07.333 - 1:05:09.458
There was a massive rainstorm
1:05:09.458 - 1:05:12.958
in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia,
so we had some extra time there.
1:05:13.083 - 1:05:16.458
It was really beautiful, it was like a lightning thunderstorm.
1:05:16.458 - 1:05:19.458
And now you hear the sounds of
1:05:19.583 - 1:05:22.583
And we got stuck in traffic on this block
1:05:22.583 - 1:05:26.208
for about ten minutes,
about 20ft from our hotel.
1:05:26.708 - 1:05:29.833
I would have
I would have had some judgments against me
1:05:29.833 - 1:05:33.833
as a producer the entire time
I was there, like mad respect to everybody
1:05:33.833 - 1:05:37.458
who ever produced a Globe Trekker,
because they had to be so smart
1:05:37.583 - 1:05:41.833
and able to not get ruffled
and deal with crazy chaos along the way.
1:05:47.583 - 1:05:48.458
Yeah, but we were there,
1:05:48.458 - 1:05:51.458
and I just kind of found myself
dropping back into it.
1:05:55.708 - 1:05:58.958
We're at the grocery store!
1:05:59.333 - 1:06:00.333
You got bread.
1:06:00.333 - 1:06:02.333
Bread, bread, bread.
1:06:02.333 - 1:06:05.583
We've got cookies, cookies, cookies.
1:06:05.583 - 1:06:08.208
And a cute school girl
1:06:08.208 - 1:06:09.208
Noodles.
1:06:09.208 - 1:06:12.208
Noodles, noodles,
1:06:12.583 - 1:06:17.125
mango chutney.
1:06:18.583 - 1:06:21.208
And then I was obsessed with
1:06:21.208 - 1:06:24.833
Well, I was curiously inquiring
whether I could meet Jackie Shroff,
1:06:24.833 - 1:06:29.083
who is a Bollywood star
that I met in my very first Globe Trekker.
1:06:29.083 - 1:06:33.958
I was lucky enough to meet one of India's
most popular actors, Jackie Shroff.
1:06:34.208 - 1:06:37.208
How did you come to be an actor
and get in this business?
1:06:37.208 - 1:06:40.208
Well, to start off, I was born
1:06:41.208 - 1:06:45.458
I was born in a slum. Of Bombay or?
Yeah, in Bombay.
1:06:45.583 - 1:06:49.833
I started, doing some odd jobs here and
there, and I got spotted on the streets.
1:06:49.833 - 1:06:52.583
Someone say you want to model?
I say why not, you give me money.
1:06:53.583 - 1:06:54.083
And then
1:06:54.083 - 1:06:57.583
after three years, someone else saw my ad
and say you want to be an actor?
1:06:57.958 - 1:06:59.083
I said, why not?
1:06:59.083 - 1:07:01.708
And he couldn't have been more gracious,
more wonderful.
1:07:01.708 - 1:07:03.208
But I was so scared.
1:07:03.208 - 1:07:03.583
Imagine,
1:07:03.583 - 1:07:05.833
it’s your first time on television.
1:07:05.833 - 1:07:07.833
I don't, I'm nervous every day.
1:07:07.833 - 1:07:11.833
And now I'm suddenly like, sitting down
trying to interview?
1:07:12.208 - 1:07:14.833
I don't ever think
I like interviewed anybody,
1:07:14.833 - 1:07:17.958
- But um, but yeah and so--
- Well that's why it works.
1:07:17.958 - 1:07:22.458
Because you can see that in every moment
that you're on
1:07:22.958 - 1:07:25.708
We're just winging it, kid.
1:07:25.708 - 1:07:28.458
I feel pretty starstruck right now.
1:07:28.458 - 1:07:32.583
I mean, I've only seen a few Hindi films,
but they're they're really fun to watch.
1:07:32.833 - 1:07:35.583
And, he's had an extensive career
1:07:35.583 - 1:07:38.583
and it's kind of,
you know, a well-established actor.
1:07:38.833 - 1:07:39.708
And I just interviewed him.
1:07:40.833 - 1:07:43.833
It's pretty cool.
1:07:43.833 - 1:07:46.208
Jackie. I know Jackie.
1:07:46.208 - 1:07:47.833
I'm with Jackie.
1:07:47.833 - 1:07:50.208
Jackie's just on the set right now.
1:07:50.208 - 1:07:52.333
He'll be back in a minute.
1:07:52.333 - 1:07:54.333
Oh, my God, I feel for Megan McCormick.
1:07:54.333 - 1:07:58.333
She's so,
shy and nervous and goofy and, like,
1:07:58.458 - 1:08:01.458
just straight off the prairies,
just straight from the mid-west.
1:08:01.458 - 1:08:02.458
It was beautiful.
1:08:02.458 - 1:08:03.458
That's what made it.
1:08:03.458 - 1:08:06.583
- You could feel that.
- Dropped in there, so, you know
1:08:06.958 - 1:08:11.333
But, you know, I think that once we start
filming, we're just in the moment.
1:08:11.333 - 1:08:13.708
So I was not self-conscious during it.
1:08:13.708 - 1:08:14.583
It's only after.
1:08:14.583 - 1:08:18.208
And then I kind of remember I was just
looking around like, this is wild.
1:08:18.333 - 1:08:20.583
There is no part of me
that ever could have imagined
1:08:20.583 - 1:08:22.333
- that I would have had that experience.
- Yeah.
1:08:22.333 - 1:08:26.083
So then I was watching it late at night
in this place in Mumbai, and I was like,
1:08:26.083 - 1:08:29.083
I'm just kind of put this on the internet
and see what happens.
1:08:29.083 - 1:08:32.083
So I've got 48 hours left in Mumbai.
1:08:32.208 - 1:08:35.708
Does anybody know anybody who knows
anybody who knows Jackie Shroff?
1:08:36.708 - 1:08:39.083
Do you think we could meet him?
1:08:39.083 - 1:08:40.083
You never know.
1:08:40.083 - 1:08:43.083
My daughter tagged everything
she could think of.
1:08:43.083 - 1:08:46.083
Somebody who knew Jackie Shroff saw it
1:08:46.458 - 1:08:48.708
and I think his daughter
actually saw the post.
1:08:48.708 - 1:08:52.333
She I think Rie tagged, the family owned
like some gyms or something.
1:08:52.458 - 1:08:54.583
So she tagged the gyms.
His daughter saw it.
1:08:54.583 - 1:08:58.958
She must have said, dad
and I had a clip of our original interview
1:08:59.083 - 1:09:04.333
that I put online
and yeah, he saw our post on Instagram
1:09:04.333 - 1:09:08.208
and he DM'd me and I was like,
I woke Rie up, it was like one in the morning.
1:09:08.208 - 1:09:09.708
I was like, Rie!
1:09:09.708 - 1:09:10.458
Jackie Shroff’s like
1:09:10.458 - 1:09:13.083
Hey, what are you doing
tomorrow? What?
1:09:13.083 - 1:09:14.833
What's happening? We can make this happen.
1:09:14.833 - 1:09:16.208
It was really cool.
1:09:16.208 - 1:09:18.791
Rie. Rie! Do the “I’m with Jackie” bit.
1:09:18.791 - 1:09:19.583
I'm with Jackie,
1:09:19.583 - 1:09:21.458
Jackie just on the set right now.
1:09:21.458 - 1:09:22.958
Hello.
1:09:25.958 - 1:09:28.958
Look, people, I actually met the Jackie Shroff.
1:09:29.083 - 1:09:31.708
Here he is. He's been so gracious.
1:09:31.708 - 1:09:34.958
He gave me a little plant
so that I get better oxygen.
1:09:35.333 - 1:09:39.958
And, he said beautiful things about life and--
1:09:39.958 - 1:09:43.958
It’s just a pleasure,
I mean, it's so it's so cleansing to have met
1:09:45.208 - 1:09:47.083
Megan, Megan
1:09:47.083 - 1:09:47.708
You got it.
1:09:47.708 - 1:09:50.708
Megan after so long. 25 years.
1:09:50.958 - 1:09:53.208
And we promise to meet again
after 25 years.
1:09:53.208 - 1:09:55.333
- Yes. - Amen. - Amen.
1:09:55.333 - 1:09:56.333
All right. Thank you.
1:09:56.333 - 1:09:59.458
God bless you and all my love to you
and your family and everybody.
1:09:59.458 - 1:10:01.583
Just love each other.
1:10:01.583 - 1:10:04.833
No fighting,
just breathing deep and right.
1:10:05.333 - 1:10:07.083
He is an amazing human.
1:10:07.083 - 1:10:09.083
He's actually that kind.
1:10:09.083 - 1:10:11.208
Nobody has a bad word to say about him.
1:10:11.208 - 1:10:13.708
He is so down to earth and so thoughtful.
1:10:13.708 - 1:10:18.083
And it was, I feel like it's almost cliche
to say about somebody who's that famous
1:10:18.083 - 1:10:19.458
that they are that nice.
1:10:19.458 - 1:10:21.958
But we sat, and we talked
about the loss of his mother.
1:10:21.958 - 1:10:24.583
We talked about where he grew up
and how he grew up,
1:10:24.583 - 1:10:27.083
and how that gave him a perspective
for the life that he leads now.
1:10:27.083 - 1:10:31.583
That he doesn't take any of it
for granted, that his children understand
1:10:31.583 - 1:10:34.333
what it's like to come from the slums,
because he did,
1:10:34.333 - 1:10:36.083
and to actually live that life.
1:10:36.083 - 1:10:40.833
And so he hasn't been eclipsed by the
the power or magic of his status.
1:10:40.833 - 1:10:44.458
And so he really, legitimately
moves around the world
1:10:44.458 - 1:10:49.333
- being real and kind to everybody.
- He was even more chilled out
1:10:49.333 - 1:10:54.708
now it came across. From your video.
From the thing, he was chill then,
1:10:54.708 - 1:11:00.208
But you know, that's amazing
he was so chill and so cool.
1:11:00.458 - 1:11:01.958
Yeah. Wow.
1:11:01.958 - 1:11:02.583
Yeah, yeah.
1:11:02.583 - 1:11:06.333
So two things I want to ask you,
Megan, in wrapping up is
1:11:06.333 - 1:11:10.083
one is like, what are you working on now.
1:11:11.458 - 1:11:12.833
And also
1:11:12.833 - 1:11:16.708
when, what is the sort of story
you trot out
1:11:16.708 - 1:11:20.833
at dinner parties, like one story
from your Globe Trekker days.
1:11:20.833 - 1:11:26.958
What I'm working on now is so,
eight years ago, when my dad passed away,
1:11:26.958 - 1:11:31.458
it was a very intense week
that I felt ill prepared for.
1:11:31.583 - 1:11:35.833
And there are so many things that I had
to decide and wish I'd had considered
1:11:36.458 - 1:11:37.208
ahead of time.
1:11:37.208 - 1:11:39.333
And so when I went through
that experience,
1:11:39.333 - 1:11:40.958
I felt this sense of conviction
1:11:40.958 - 1:11:44.708
about not wanting other people
to be as ill prepared.
1:11:44.833 - 1:11:47.833
So I trained as a death doula,
and I've done some other
1:11:47.833 - 1:11:50.958
lot of volunteering in hospice
and end of life care.
1:11:50.958 - 1:11:52.541
What’s a death doula?
1:11:52.541 - 1:11:55.583
A death doula is like, well, there are birth doulas, so right?
1:11:55.583 - 1:11:59.833
It’s like, maybe you have a doctor, a midwife
delivering the baby, but in many cultures,
1:11:59.833 - 1:12:03.583
there was somebody who was kind of
like between and among all of those roles.
1:12:03.708 - 1:12:06.833
And it's not necessarily
like a spiritual perso, but a person
1:12:06.833 - 1:12:09.958
to like really be in the human experience
of what's happening.
1:12:10.458 - 1:12:14.083
So a death doula is somebody
that can serve in many different ways.
1:12:14.083 - 1:12:17.833
Sometimes it's really practical,
sometimes it's creating ritual,
1:12:17.833 - 1:12:21.583
sometimes it's just helping family
through the challenge of the moment
1:12:21.583 - 1:12:26.458
itself, or sitting bedside and helping
people know how to how to navigate death.
1:12:26.458 - 1:12:29.458
Because it is,
especially here in the United States,
1:12:29.458 - 1:12:33.333
kind of like something that is lost along
the way, medical deaths,
1:12:33.333 - 1:12:36.958
you know, going, you die in hospitals
more than you die at home.
1:12:37.208 - 1:12:40.333
It's it's a business
and it's just something we avoid
1:12:40.333 - 1:12:43.333
so desperately, I think, culturally.
1:12:43.333 - 1:12:46.208
And so there's
this kind of new invitation
1:12:46.208 - 1:12:49.333
to have more conversation
around end of life.
1:12:49.458 - 1:12:50.083
Do you have to--
1:12:50.083 - 1:12:50.833
Sorry.
1:12:50.833 - 1:12:53.708
Do you have to train for that?
So is there courses, or how do you?
1:12:53.708 - 1:12:55.083
Yeah yeah, yeah.
1:12:55.083 - 1:12:58.083
- There's courses.
- Because there must be a lot involved in that.
1:12:58.208 - 1:12:59.833
There are. And it can look different ways.
1:12:59.833 - 1:13:04.333
Like I said it can be something like
real hands on or it can be somebody that,
1:13:04.458 - 1:13:06.958
you know, helps in the hospital, helps
people make decisions,
1:13:06.958 - 1:13:10.333
help people know what questions
even to ask among themselves.
1:13:10.458 - 1:13:10.958
Yeah.
1:13:11.833 - 1:13:15.083
Even to like the final days of like, okay,
so somebody knows
1:13:15.083 - 1:13:17.708
they have a terminal disease
and they want to, like,
1:13:17.708 - 1:13:20.333
have a conversation
about what music do you want to hear?
1:13:20.333 - 1:13:22.333
How do you want people to surround you?
1:13:22.333 - 1:13:25.333
What is it that you wish
would happen to your body after you go?
1:13:25.333 - 1:13:28.708
Like real conversations
that a lot of us just avoid?
1:13:28.958 - 1:13:33.708
So I've been kind of like on a mission
to have more conversations
1:13:33.708 - 1:13:34.958
like that with people.
1:13:34.958 - 1:13:37.958
Do you want to be resuscitated?
1:13:37.958 - 1:13:38.333
That's always a hard one.
1:13:38.333 - 1:13:39.708
Yeah, definitely.
1:13:39.708 - 1:13:42.708
These are conversations
that we should have long before
1:13:42.708 - 1:13:45.333
the moment is on our doorstep
with our loved ones.
1:13:45.333 - 1:13:48.958
Because once it starts,
it's really emotional, right?
1:13:48.958 - 1:13:51.958
We're trapped
in, like, a very human instinct.
1:13:51.958 - 1:13:55.708
But if we can have these in advance
and there's a lot of different platforms
1:13:55.708 - 1:13:59.833
out there that can guide somebody
through these things to consider
1:13:59.833 - 1:14:04.083
and makes it a little less, challenging
because there's like,
1:14:04.083 - 1:14:07.833
hey, mom, let's have these conversations
from about these things.
1:14:08.208 - 1:14:09.958
So that's a big part
of what I've been about.
1:14:09.958 - 1:14:15.583
But like Globe Trekker, 100% influenced
my perspective on so many things.
1:14:15.583 - 1:14:19.208
It's like I remember being in West Africa
on was my fourth show,
1:14:19.333 - 1:14:21.041
and we were filming a funeral.
1:14:21.333 - 1:14:25.041
Some guys from the coffin shop, who were buying a coffin,
1:14:25.041 - 1:14:29.333
invited me to their grandfather's funeral
and that's what's going on.
1:14:29.333 - 1:14:30.708
It's a big celebration.
1:14:30.708 - 1:14:33.708
Everybody's dancing in special outfits,
1:14:34.333 - 1:14:37.333
And it was a massive party
and everybody's drinking and celebrating.
1:14:37.333 - 1:14:39.708
It's wild. I was like, what is going on?
1:14:39.708 - 1:14:43.458
And then as we move toward the inner
sanctum where the man who died was lying
1:14:43.458 - 1:14:46.458
open casket, the
the party went into like this,
1:14:46.583 - 1:14:49.583
uptick of a sound of wailing.
1:14:51.583 - 1:14:53.083
And so when we open the door,
1:14:53.083 - 1:14:56.458
I'm surrounded by this depth
of this wailing of the women
1:14:56.583 - 1:14:57.708
and of the people in the room
1:14:57.708 - 1:15:01.833
who were allowed and invited
to, like, really express their grief.
1:15:01.833 - 1:15:05.458
And I come from a culture
where everything is kind of quiet
1:15:05.708 - 1:15:08.958
and we eat small,
tiny sandwiches and small quiches,
1:15:09.083 - 1:15:11.583
and we maybe cry a little bit
and then we move on.
1:15:11.583 - 1:15:16.583
So to be in a place where to express one's
grief was so powerful, it changed me.
1:15:16.583 - 1:15:18.333
It completely changed my perspective.
1:15:18.333 - 1:15:19.833
And so that's one of the reasons
1:15:19.833 - 1:15:23.958
we went to India, it was like, hey,
how can we perceive death differently?
1:15:23.958 - 1:15:25.083
What are different ways
1:15:25.083 - 1:15:28.958
so that we maybe live our lives differently,
and also have compassion.
1:15:28.958 - 1:15:32.083
- So I'm on a big tip about compassion.
- Okay, nice.
1:15:32.208 - 1:15:37.333
So I've written a five part series
called “Dead Serious with Megan” and it’s
1:15:37.333 - 1:15:40.083
five different places
in the United States,
1:15:40.083 - 1:15:43.583
just kind of getting beneath
the surface of it in a curious way.
1:15:43.583 - 1:15:45.333
- So that's what I'm working on.
- Oh, gosh.
1:15:45.333 - 1:15:49.250
- That I care the most about.
- Bless you for taking that on
1:15:49.250 - 1:15:51.333
because yeah, it, it,
1:15:51.458 - 1:15:54.583
it does feel like this thing that,
the one thing we all know for
1:15:54.583 - 1:15:57.583
sure is the one thing
nobody wants to talk about.
1:15:57.833 - 1:15:58.583
Yeah.
1:15:58.583 - 1:16:01.833
Well, I was saying to a friend
like who was like, why are you like this?
1:16:01.833 - 1:16:03.083
What is this about for you?
1:16:03.083 - 1:16:06.958
And I question to him was after
the hurricanes happened in Florida.
1:16:06.958 - 1:16:08.833
Right. A very divided place now. Right.
1:16:08.833 - 1:16:12.458
We've got everybody's in a different camp
and it's pretty divided.
1:16:12.708 - 1:16:14.458
And they said,
did anybody go around asking
1:16:14.458 - 1:16:17.083
who you're voting for
before they helped their neighbor?
1:16:17.083 - 1:16:17.958
Of course not.
1:16:17.958 - 1:16:20.333
That's not what we do.
That's not our human instinct.
1:16:20.333 - 1:16:21.583
People would help each other.
1:16:21.583 - 1:16:26.833
And then maybe three months later,
the opposing teams are back.
1:16:26.833 - 1:16:29.458
But in the moment, we come together.
1:16:29.458 - 1:16:32.583
And so that is, I was like,
the whole point of this show is like
1:16:33.208 - 1:16:35.083
we care about each other fundamentally.
1:16:35.083 - 1:16:37.458
And when you're in real distress,
I'm going to show up for you.
1:16:37.458 - 1:16:38.958
And it doesn't matter
1:16:38.958 - 1:16:42.833
as much what I think of your beliefs,
like, let's just be human together.
1:16:43.208 - 1:16:46.833
So death is a great leveling field,
and I feel like a great opportunity
1:16:46.833 - 1:16:49.833
where we can find our compassion
within ourselves.
1:16:50.083 - 1:16:54.083
- At a time where it seems to be almost threatened.
- In short supply.
1:16:54.083 - 1:16:57.083
Yeah, yeah.
And needed quite a lot.
1:16:57.458 - 1:17:00.583
So I'm curious
in, in your training as a death doula,
1:17:00.958 - 1:17:03.708
what what, are you also,
1:17:03.708 - 1:17:08.583
encouraged to have people talk about money
and what's going to be left
1:17:08.583 - 1:17:13.708
and all of the stuff that seems
to really create such bitterness.
1:17:13.833 - 1:17:16.708
That happens all the time, even in
close-knit families.
1:17:16.708 - 1:17:19.708
- Oh, god yeah.
- Where people have heard mom say different things
1:17:19.708 - 1:17:21.583
like my sister and I have it. It’s like,
1:17:21.583 - 1:17:24.333
she hears one thing from my mother
and I hear something different.
1:17:24.333 - 1:17:26.583
And I'm like,
I don't think that's what she said.
1:17:26.583 - 1:17:30.458
So if you have an app and you've had this
conversation or you even make a video,
1:17:30.708 - 1:17:33.458
or you have a recording of the loved
one saying,
1:17:33.458 - 1:17:35.833
you know,
should I develop serious dementia,
1:17:35.833 - 1:17:40.333
this is how I want it to play out,
and we all have it on record together.
1:17:40.833 - 1:17:45.208
Then it's, you know, it can create less
tension and less fracture within families.
1:17:45.208 - 1:17:49.833
It's amazing because this is something
you would, I would never thought of.
1:17:49.833 - 1:17:52.208
That yeah. You'd have someone like you that
1:17:54.458 - 1:17:55.958
to get everyone together, and have a little chat
1:17:55.958 - 1:17:59.458
Facilitate, facilitate.
Facilitate.
1:17:59.458 - 1:18:02.291
I knew it was a long’un! I thought, I'm going for it!
1:18:02.666 - 1:18:04.500
More syllables, Ian, every day.
1:18:06.333 - 1:18:09.958
But it is. It’s the thing that we didn't
think about that needs to be addressed
1:18:09.958 - 1:18:12.583
and to make everything so much easier.
1:18:12.583 - 1:18:13.833
Lovely. Well done.
1:18:13.833 - 1:18:16.833
Because that's so needed. God.
1:18:17.083 - 1:18:17.833
Yeah, yeah.
1:18:17.833 - 1:18:19.583
And it's one of the things too, like that,
1:18:19.583 - 1:18:22.958
One of the gifts of Globe Trekker
for me in my personal life is like,
1:18:22.958 - 1:18:25.958
wow, I've been to enough places
and see that we believe things like
1:18:26.083 - 1:18:29.333
there are different cultural,
symbols and rituals and
1:18:29.333 - 1:18:29.583
rights.
1:18:29.583 - 1:18:32.958
So when I was doing a lot of volunteering
in hospice and palliative care,
1:18:33.333 - 1:18:36.083
I would go into a room
and I would look for anything that would
1:18:36.083 - 1:18:38.958
maybe tell me a little bit
about where somebody was from, like,
1:18:38.958 - 1:18:40.583
oh, there's a Puerto Rican flag.
1:18:40.583 - 1:18:44.458
And and a cross.
Oh, this room, you know, they,
1:18:44.458 - 1:18:48.458
they, they're from India
and there's a different iconic image.
1:18:48.458 - 1:18:51.333
And then just kind of meeting people
where they're at and,
1:18:51.333 - 1:18:54.208
you know, seeing what their
where their belief, how their belief
1:18:54.208 - 1:18:57.208
was carrying them
through the challenge of this.
1:18:57.333 - 1:18:58.208
Yeah.
1:18:58.208 - 1:19:01.958
So like if you believe you're coming back
again, maybe you're excited,
1:19:02.208 - 1:19:06.458
maybe you've lived with such good karma,
maybe somebody cultivated such good karma
1:19:06.458 - 1:19:10.083
that maybe they're on the path
to liberation, as opposed to other ones
1:19:10.083 - 1:19:12.458
where it's hellfire and brimstone
because you're a sinner.
1:19:12.458 - 1:19:16.083
It's like there are so many different ways
that we can interpret that.
1:19:16.208 - 1:19:17.583
The next great adventure.
1:19:17.583 - 1:19:21.833
I'm all about this adventure, and I'm
also super curious about the next great adventure.
1:19:21.833 - 1:19:22.958
Wow.
1:19:24.208 - 1:19:25.458
Yeah.
1:19:25.458 - 1:19:29.583
Well, Megan and Ian and Justine, sadly.
1:19:29.833 - 1:19:30.458
Wow. Yeah.
1:19:30.458 - 1:19:32.083
The three of us must say goodbye.
1:19:32.083 - 1:19:35.083
So, Megan, how do you think, this is
1:19:35.083 - 1:19:37.083
our first vodcast recording.
1:19:37.083 - 1:19:40.083
How how do you
how do you guys think it went?
1:19:40.083 - 1:19:43.083
Three of us
talking from different parts of the world.
1:19:43.458 - 1:19:45.458
Yeah. Weird.
1:19:45.458 - 1:19:49.583
But no, the weird thing is, it's
just because I don't even know you two.
1:19:49.583 - 1:19:51.083
Because we never really met.
1:19:51.083 - 1:19:54.208
So this is the first time
that we've all had a chance to actually
1:19:54.208 - 1:19:57.583
chat and express different things,
views, feelings and that.
1:19:57.833 - 1:19:58.458
So it's like
1:19:58.458 - 1:19:59.708
Wow. Yeah.
1:19:59.708 - 1:20:02.333
Almost not too late,
but like, it's a shame
1:20:02.333 - 1:20:06.083
it didn't happen 30 years ago
or 20 years ago, you know?
1:20:06.083 - 1:20:08.833
But it doesn't matter
as long as you get there in the end.
1:20:08.833 - 1:20:10.583
So I've loved it. Absolutely loved it.
1:20:11.708 - 1:20:12.583
And because we've got
1:20:12.583 - 1:20:17.083
that shared insanity, like you
said, Megan, about when you meet someone,
1:20:17.583 - 1:20:21.458
that filmed the show with you,
or was like with the show,
1:20:21.708 - 1:20:23.958
it's almost like an army situation.
1:20:23.958 - 1:20:26.083
You’ve been through ‘Nam, man together.
1:20:26.083 - 1:20:30.333
So you've got you've got this little bond
because no one you can't express,
1:20:31.958 - 1:20:33.583
explain that to anyone else.
1:20:33.583 - 1:20:36.583
That intense months of madness.
1:20:36.583 - 1:20:38.708
And we had it so many times.
1:20:38.708 - 1:20:39.708
It was such a privilege.
1:20:39.708 - 1:20:42.833
So we know what we're talking about
together, with making those things
1:20:43.083 - 1:20:44.083
just brilliant.
1:20:44.083 - 1:20:48.708
Well, for me, I love seeing the two of you
because like I said, I watched the show
1:20:48.708 - 1:20:52.833
before I was on the show,
and so you two were just ahead.
1:20:52.833 - 1:20:56.333
And I, love and respect both of you.
1:20:56.333 - 1:20:57.708
So this is a great thing.
1:20:57.708 - 1:21:00.208
And when you've got, like,
a few more under your belt,
1:21:00.208 - 1:21:02.583
I think you should have me come back
and let me interview
1:21:02.583 - 1:21:03.833
the two of you.
1:21:03.833 - 1:21:06.458
Oh, yeah, yes.
I get to be in control,
1:21:06.458 - 1:21:10.458
And I get to ask all of the questions
and put both of you on the spot.
1:21:10.583 - 1:21:12.958
Yes.
I want to do that.
1:21:15.083 - 1:21:17.208
Anyway, thank you all for joining.
1:21:17.208 - 1:21:21.208
Ian, Justine, and Megan
on Our Looney Planet
1:21:21.208 - 1:21:24.208
and, there's more coming.
1:21:24.333 - 1:21:27.291
There sure is. If you can handle it.