“IT’S ONE OF THE BEST EXPERIENCES THAT I HAD“

In this episode, Julian sat down with Terence Angsioco who has been stuck in paradise due to COVID and had joined our Sri Lanka Tuk-Tuk Adventure a while back.

Here is a small snippet of our conversation. Click here to listen to the whole chat.

Julian: What were your memories of driving a tuk-tuk around Sri Lanka?

Terence: It’s still on the top of my list you know., Seeing Sri Lanka for the first time and actually experiencing it very slowly and fast at the same time with different people from different walks of life. It’s amazing. It’s so hard to encapsulate it in one word. It’s amazing. It’s one of the best experiences that I had.

Julian: That’s good to hear. What were your best memories of it? Was it what you had expected?

“THE AMAZING THING ABOUT THAT TRIP IN SRI LANKA IS THE LANDSCAPE ACTUALLY SLOWLY REVEALS ITSELF”

Terence: Ah, yes, and something even more. Two things: One, the amazing thing about that trip to Sri Lanka is the landscape actually slowly reveals itself, it’s a really amazing road trip. And then suddenly you’re on the coastline. And then suddenly, you’re in the tea plantation. So that for me was the beauty of Sri Lanka and also, of course, the beautiful people that you’ve met along the way.

Julian Carnall: Because of the nature of the trip you’re very quickly going off the tourist path. I mean, you drive where you want to drive, right? So you’re not forced to go from A to B to C.

“IT REALLY CHANGED THE WAY I TRAVELLED”

Terence: I’m not sure if I told you but I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for the Sri Lanka trip because it really changed the way I travelled. How you guys designed the experience itself, it pushes you out of your comfort zone. You’re forced to actually go and talk to locals and ask questions. And of course, that particular challenge where you have to cook with a local, knock on someone’s door. For me, that left a big mark. That’s how I actually started travelling after that. It’s not just to eat with the locals, but to actually connect. That trip was amazing for me because it made me realise that it’s possible to just knock on someone’s door and share a meal with them. I realised once you book your hotel and your tours, you actually eliminate any possibility of meeting the locals. That for me was really an eye-opener.

Terence: I remember one of the challenges was to teach an English song to kids. We stopped at a public school in Sri Lanka. It was so funny, because it was the graduation and they called us up, and we were the ones on the stage. And we were the ones giving the diplomas, I think.

“ONE OF THE BIG LESSONS THAT I LEARNED FROM THE LANKA EXPERIENCE IS TO NOT SELF-DOUBT YOURSELF”

Terence: That’s the reason why I’m saying it’s such an amazing experience. Because at first you get forced to go out and interact. And then when you finally did it, it was such an amazing experience. It’s something you will I will never forget. There are so many magical moments. One of the big lessons that I learned from the Lanka experience is to not self-doubt yourself.

Listen to the full episode here.