- It's Caleb.
- It's Megon and we're
back with episode seven
of The #WHODIS? Podcast.
(upbeat music)
- Meg, we have traveled
far and wide to make
this podcast happen, all the
way up to the Gold Coast.
Not too far though.
(both laugh)
- We've got the travel
queen in front of us
and we're like, ooh
traveled to Gold Coast.
- Yeah, I know, we're
overstating massively,
or at least I am.
Yep, speaking of the queen of travel,
we have her on the podcast.
Meg, run us through.
- That's all right.
We were lucky enough to pin her down
for this one. (chuckles)
So we've got Lauren here
and she's also known
as Gypsea Lust on Instagram.
So she's an avid explorer over the world.
She's a travel blogger who
actually taught herself
how to photograph and
curate her own content.
She boasts an incredible
2.1 million followers
on Instagram,
and also recently started
her own YouTube channel.
And we can't forget
about her amazing presets
that can quite literally
take your photos from zero
to 100, and that's because
I've tried it myself. (laughs)
And besides living the dream,
she's just a down to earth fun lovely girl
who just loves to embrace life.
So welcome to the podcast.
- Thank you, I'm blushing.
(all laugh)
Thanks for having me.
- Lauren, so good to see you.
I know you have specifically come
to the Gold Coast for this podcast.
- I did.
I traveled from Bali, I
did two weeks isolation
just to be here for this.
So I'm really excited.
- It has absolutely nothing to do,
absolute coincidence that
you're now a first time
auntie and that'll happen,
but it was all about
this podcast, wasn't it?
(all laugh)
So look, we have hinted already.
We've got a lot to talk about.
You've come from Bali.
Your identical twin, Ellie, has just had
her amazing little boy,
Bowie, which is really cool.
You're an auntie for the first time.
- I'm an auntie, I know.
- [Caleb] What's that like?
- It's weird, it's cool.
It's just something I never experienced,
obviously first time.
But yeah, it's such an exciting time.
I've never been around
babies before and I was
always really scared of them.
And when she first told
me she was pregnant,
I was like, oh baby.
(all laugh)
Interesting.
This is gonna be scary.
And then so many people said to me,
it will just come naturally.
When it's family, it just comes natural.
And honestly, the moment that it happened,
I felt instantly comfortable.
I hold him and everything
and I've never feel that,
oh, fragile baby.
So I'm just really excited.
It's a whole new thing
for me as well as her.
- Wow, and you were actually in the room
while Ellie was giving birth.
Were you taking the photo?
- Yeah, I was taking
photos, I was videoing,
I was the hands on girl.
Also at the same time I
was watching my sister
have a baby.
So embracing watching that, I was crying,
it was so emotional.
Then I'm like, wait, gotta get
the photos. (mimics shutter)
There was sometimes where
I could see Alex was like,
I guess he was giving me the eye like,
would she please go away with that camera?
And I'm like, I know she wants
this. (mimics camera shutter)
- So much pressure.
- [Lauren] So much.
- You know she's an Insta-professional
when she's making sure
she hits those snaps right
at the right time.
- These are the banger content,
I need to really perform.
- I always wonder what
the doctors and nurses
are thinking, like, what
the heck is she doing?
Were they like that or or was it just.
- Yeah, it wasn't till after they're like,
even as each nurse and
doctor were coming like, wow,
you're really into photography.
I was like, yeah, yeah.
You'd think so.
At one point I honestly
had like five different
cameras going, maybe
even more 'cause I had
the vlog cameras going,
then I had one for photos
and another one for photos.
I was also filming, I had the film camera,
I had the iPhone going.
And I was like, oh, I've
got so many cameras going.
Sort of swinging off my arms.
- Are you telling me you
didn't Instagram Live it?
(all laugh)
- I was like, I should just go live.
Just to say into it, just flick it live.
- Just go next to the bed, Ellie say hi.
- We're live.
Everyone's watching.
She'd be like (mimics crying).
Maybe not for a first baby.
- [Caleb] Yeah, Exactly.
- I have watched someone
do a live for a birth
and I was like, whoa.
Ellie told me, she's like,
oh, this girl's going live.
You should check it out.
And I was like, ooh, I dunno, do you mind.
- [Megon] That's intense.
- And then I started
watching and I was like,
actually, it was like a
fifth baby or something.
I was like, it's actually beautiful.
I felt so in the moment
there and I was like,
I can understand how other
mums would really have
loved watching and sharing that experience
because it was such a calm
and beautiful experience.
Most people just think it's gonna be
this traumatic, crazy thing.
But it can be beautiful
and yeah, really special.
- Yeah, we were talking about that.
So for everyone listening,
we just filmed a podcast
with Ellie just before this.
So we're doing the back-to-back.
So if we get tired half
way through, you know why.
We're talking about that exact thing.
The miracle of childbirth and pregnancy.
I was talking earlier about,
we've got the grass outside
that we're looking at.
We've got birds in the sky,
but we take that for granted every day.
And it's amazing how
childbirth brings us back
to the reality.
- [Lauren] Nature.
- The miracle, the absolute crazy miracle
of a baby growing inside
of you and this human
you have created, which
is just so special.
- It's so cool, isn't it?
And throughout her experience,
I learnt so much about pregnancy and birth
and I was so fascinated.
Afterwards the midwife was
explaining so much to me,
about giving me a
presentation of the placenta.
And I was like-
- Oh wow.
- Wow, I've never really
thought about all this.
And I was like, this is so fascinating.
Humans are incredible.
I mean, all animals
are because they all do
the same thing, but it's just,
when you actually think about it,
we all came the same way.
We've all come from that exact
same process with our mums.
So it's like, wow,
you just don't even really
think about it when you do,
it's special.
- Yeah, it's crazy.
- Yeah, crazy.
- I love it.
Let's talk about the craziness,
you use the word crazy,
I'm gonna use the word
crazy in a different way.
Now, the craziness of
COVID and your lifestyle
and how you live.
So you're famous being a travel blogger
and obviously that's
been impacted massively.
I mean, obviously you're
a first time auntie,
life is amazing.
How are you juggling
the other side of things
where things are a little
bit slower on your main gig?
- Yeah, well, it has been
definitely challenging
because we're so used to
traveling majority of the year,
and a lot of our jobs
revolve around travel jobs.
And then off the back of the travel jobs,
we also just love to travel.
So we might have a job
somewhere and then straight
from there, we'll be like, okay,
we're gonna spend an extra
two weeks here and go
to these countries or go
to something nearby and do
our own thing.
And literally this entire year,
obviously this all started,
the whole COVID thing happened in March.
The only place I've visited
this year is Australia.
So I came to Australian,
to Western Australia
in January, then I came in February,
and then the next month COVID hit.
And I was like,
all I've done is be in
Bali or in Australia.
It's the first year in that I can remember
that I haven't traveled
and it's so bizarre.
But apart from work
side, personal as well,
because we've taken it for
granted how good we had
it that we could just
travel to these places
and explore the world and
everything was so free.
And this has really been
like a wake up call to us,
like wow, it can just
stop and end with a click
of the fingers.
And work-wise, yeah,
definitely taken a huge hit.
But it's also been a
reminder that you should be
more diverse in your incomes,
diverse in what you do.
So we've now over the
years transitioned to be
quite lifestyle with our pages.
So when we started building our
house in Bali two years ago,
we started sharing a lot of that.
And a lot of people
really related with that.
And that's been something
that took us from not
just travel content, but also
sharing more of our lives.
So that was like building
a house and living
in Bali, getting a dog.
So yeah, definitely realized
that everyone should
be diverse with what they're doing online.
Not rely so much on one
income or kind of one style
of content, I guess.
So, yeah, and we're also
really lucky to have
our preset store.
So in terms of jobs and stuff,
it's been a good reminder
to just relax a bit,
have a bit more routine.
It's something that I didn't
have for so many years.
I lacked routine 'cause
we would just up and going
every other month, we
couldn't plan in the future.
So I was really missing
that whole routine life
of having your gym, your day to day,
being with your friends.
And so that's been one
thing that's been really
good about not being able to travel.
You don't feel like you're missing
out on these opportunities,
these jobs, these trips,
and you just get to just
take it easy and focus
on family, and friends,
and your health. (chuckles)
- What was it like when
you came back to quarantine
for two weeks?
- In the hotel isolation?
To be honest,
I made the most of it and
I actually didn't have
a bad experience.
I went into it with so much research.
I went on this forum and I looked into all
the different hotels and
what was really going on.
And I had freaked out over it.
I remember calling my
sister weeks out before it,
'cause I was always like,
I'm gonna be there for your birth.
Then as I approached like
a month until she was going
to be giving birth and I was like, oh,
this quarantine thing is
still going on and I don't
think it's going anywhere.
And I was like, "I don't
think I can do it, El.
I'll go insane in that
room for two weeks."
And I could tell that she was disappointed
and when I stopped, sat
back and thought about it,
I was like, no,
this is really important
to me and my sister.
This quarantine thing's
not going anywhere.
Suck it up, get a grip,
you're gonna do it.
And then once I changed
my whole mindset about it,
I really decided that I was like,
I'm gonna make the most of this.
And so I went in with this
like, what can I do in there?
And that's where I really launched getting
into YouTube, doing lots
of fitness and health
and then just sharing my day to day life
over Instagram and everything.
I think one of the most
helpful things was having
an audience and everyone
was so responsive to it.
I think my views on my
story doubled from days
after being in there because
everyone started catching
on and being like, wow,
this is so interesting.
This girl's in a bedroom for two weeks.
Let's watch what she's doing.
And even when it came to a couple of days
out I started getting
the messages like, "Oh,
I'm really excited for you to get out,
but I'm also sad because
I really enjoyed watching
your Stories every day."
(all laugh)
I was like, oh wow, thank you, I guess.
But I'm gonna go back to real life.
- I've always wanted to go to prison.
I wonder what it's like.
I better follow this Gypsea Lust and-
- [Lauren] I wanna see what it's like.
- Exactly.
- No, but honestly I made the most of it.
Kept so busy.
Every day I was so busy
with little projects,
filming workout videos, or
even just creating content
for my Stories, that the
days went so quickly.
So I think having an
audience was my biggest,
I guess my biggest
things I'm thankful for.
- Yeah, would you say
that that positive mindset
and perspective, do you
get that from travelling?
- Yeah, I guess so,
because when you travel,
everyone that travels
knows that it can be very
stressful and exhausting.
And when you're doing it for work as well,
you're made to be really adaptive
to the situation because
it's quite unpredictable.
Every day can be quite
different and you don't know
where you're going or what
your day is gonna look like.
So you have to deal with a
lot of strange situations,
and you have to make the most of them.
So I think that makes you more resilient.
And then I think I've always had a bit
of a positive attitude about things.
I like to see that I'm a bit more
optimistic about situations.
Even if we are like off in a photo shoot
and everything's going wrong,
I'm still optimistic like
we can make something
out of this!
It's gonna be good!
It's like pouring rain, hurricanes.
It's gonna be fun! The
sun's gonna come out!
We're gonna get our sun rise! Nah.
- Yeah, that's cool, I love it.
Well, look talking about an audience,
I mean it's hard getting one of them,
especially every man, woman
and their dog wants to,
as your dog lies on my
foot under the table.
(all laugh)
What a cool champion.
How did it happen?
How did it all begin where
you even grew an audience
in such a crazy competitive niche?
- Yeah, well when I grew an audience,
it was right at the beginning.
So this was back in 2014.
2013, '14 is where kind of it began.
Back then, as you probably know,
it wasn't really a thing
that people had big
followings and made lots of money.
So back then, if you started to have.
And a big following back
then isn't what a big
following is now.
It was a lot smaller.
And I'd just seen beautiful travel images.
All I ever wanted to do was travel.
During school I was like,
oh, in five years time,
I'll be living in Paris.
And that was always how
I visioned my life to go.
It was living abroad.
And as soon as I finished
school, I got a job.
I was just saving money to
try and go on the next trip.
And then I started getting
into taking pictures.
I just loved the idea
of beautiful pictures
and a beautiful Instagram.
So when Instagram was quite new,
and I was following a lot of repost pages,
like EarthPix and those ones.
And I remember seeing all
the beautiful pictures
around the world and I was like, oh,
I'm gonna America in a couple months.
My biggest goal is to get reposted
by EarthPix or one of
those travel repost pages.
And I didn't get reposted
by them for my whole trip,
but I was like, all my photos are so good.
Why aren't they resharing them?
Now I look back and I'm like,
oh, what was I thinking?
- I would have loved to see
your first pictures. (laughs)
- But yeah, so I had a
bit of a good camera.
Started getting into
editing, travel pictures.
And then from there it
just grew into an obsession
where I was like, oh,
I'm obsessed with
photography, travel photos.
And then I did a trip through
America for a few months,
trip through Asia.
And then I came back from
that Asia trip and moved up
to Cannes and lived there for over a year.
And that's where the
whole Instagram career
really started for me.
So I was still working
as a dental assistant
and then literally any
spare second that I got,
it was like, okay, where can we go?
Whether we're gonna a
waterfall, out to the reef,
to an island, anywhere in that area,
because it's such a
beautiful area to explore,
and it's very beautiful.
Living in a place, but
you can't actually travel,
I still felt like on the
weekends I got to travel
and create content.
So I was exploring still.
And then when I was living there,
I had maybe like 15,000 followers.
And then the local tourism
contacted us and said, hey,
we love your pictures and everything.
We'd love to bring you
along on this famille
that we're holding, which was a trip
where they are bringing
people out to explore
and create content as a job.
And I'd never even heard
of this as being a thing.
So they invite us along and said,
everything will be covered,
it'll be for five days.
You're gonna get to go on a helicopter,
staying in these hotels, doing this,
and you just gonna have
to do some Instagram posts
and they're gonna be videoing
you and making a video
of you guys exploring.
And I was like, oh wow.
This is crazy.
I couldn't believe it, I was so excited.
So I got the week off work.
And then when I was on that trip,
some of the people there were telling me
that they were getting paid to be there.
They're like, oh yeah,
we get paid a daily rate to be here and be
posting on Instagram.
And I couldn't believe it.
I was like what?
My dream of making a career
out of travel could be,
is like potential.
So beginning, I didn't
think of it as a career.
It was a hobby.
And I think that in
the beginning for a lot
of people I've talked to is
what made you get there is
because you were doing it
out of passion, not out
of, I wanna make money.
And I think that's super
important because it's not
as easy as it looks to get started.
Now there's a lot more tools.
You can do courses, you can buy presets.
There's so much information
online about doing that.
But back then, there was
no information online.
You couldn't do a course on how to become
an Instagrammer or how to
do photography the same way
that you can today.
So it was all self taught
and literally spent
so much time, so many failures,
but when you're obsessed with
something, you didn't care.
You enjoyed every second.
So from there, it just snowballed
into more and more jobs,
and then it got to the
stage where I wasn't making
much money, but it was on
par with what I was making
as a dental assistant.
And I was like, I can see that
it's enough to quit my job.
And even if I don't save any money,
I'm getting these experiences
to travel and that's all
I was spending my work money on anyway.
So I was like, it's a win, win.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
So when it comes to your socials,
Instagram's full of travel bloggers.
Someone will take a
picture of the beach and be
like hashtag travel. (laughs)
So I guess what sets you
apart from everyone else
that makes, I guess your
own blog super unique
and I guess it's so genuine.
And like you said, it's
your passion as well.
But what sets you apart
when you're creating content
and getting the pic and stuff like that?
I think it does come down to experience.
I feel like if you've been
doing it for a long time,
you know what works.
You know what looks good.
If I look back at my old
pictures, I'm like, oh,
what was I thinking?
You learn how to be in a
photo, how to, I guess,
model and look natural, you
have good camera equipment,
you know how to edit well,
and I guess you just have a general eye
for the creative of what
is aesthetically pleasing
in this image.
So that comes with experience.
I didn't just know it.
So you've learnt it over the many years.
I've been doing it for like eight years,
seven, eight years.
So it's like you've figured
it out over these many years,
I hope, and you've kind of, I guess,
set some trends as well and made styles
of what looks good.
So back years and years ago,
a big thing for us was our edits,
how we edited our photos.
And the question was always,
how do you guys edit your pictures?
How do you get them to look like this?
Because presets and all
these apps weren't a thing.
So people didn't understand
how we could make
our images look so unique.
So if someone was being like,
I'll start going on my explore page,
I could straightaway see when it's yours
or Jack's picture.
Straightaway I knew it
was yours by your edit.
But that was before presets were a thing.
And that's why when we sold them,
it was such a huge business
move for us to make.
But yeah, I forgot what
the question was. (laughs)
- Well, the good thing is you answered it.
I'm gonna give you another one.
For every Insta boyfriend
out there that is struggling,
give three don'ts
when it comes to taking photos.
- Oh, for your girlfriend?
- [Caleb] Yep.
- Okay, have patience.
- [Caleb] Or for anyone.
- [Megon] Didn't even hesitate.
She was like, right, let's do it.
- Okay, Jack are you listening?
Have patience.
I think you have to have patience
because if you are getting impatient
and you're rushing them and
you're like, okay, quickly,
one photo, you make
them feel uncomfortable
and awkward and they'll
probably not like any
of the pictures.
If they're not feeling
comfortable and confident
and relaxed, they will look
like that in their pictures.
They'll probably look
really tense and awkward.
Another tip would be giving advice.
If you can see their tag
hanging out or something
doesn't look right, oh,
don't stand like that.
Give a little bit of feedback to them.
- I hate that when my
boyfriend takes pictures of me
and I look at it, I'm like,
you didn't tell me a ringlet was coming
out at the top of my head.
- Did you not notice the hair?
The tagging?
"I didn't notice."
I was like really?
(Megon laughs)
So to him I'm like your hair, your this,
move your foot, do this.
- Guys are just making sure
that you're in the photo,
and if you're in the photo,
then it's a successful job done.
- Jack tells me, he's like,
I'm just looking if the
photo's straight he's like,
I'm just looking at all the background,
everything's straight and right.
And I'm like, can you look
at how I look and where I am?
Half the time my eyes are closed.
- [Caleb] So good, love it.
- All right, so this segment's called
Flight or Fright, and no
secrets will be left untouched.
So I hope you're ready for this one.
- [Lauren] Okay, okay.
- We're gonna fire some questions
at you and basically
just to summarize some
of your craziest traveling
experiences basically.
- [Lauren] Okay, all right.
- Okay, so the first
question is where would
you actually avoid traveling to again?
- Oh, it's hard to say
because I've never been
anywhere where I've been like,
I'm not coming back here,
but I have had some kind of
bad experiences in places
where I've been like, oh, not my favorite.
I think one that comes to top
of my mind, well two places,
is Egypt and Morocco.
So I've been back to Morocco
multiple times and I love it.
It's a beautiful place,
but I think it's particularly
Marrakech for me.
My first time I was there,
we just had some bad
experiences on the street
with just the way they hustle you
and like, "Come over here."
And then they, if you don't
go into their restaurant
or you don't buy from this
shop, it turned aggressive.
And then also one thing
that we found really crazy
in Morocco is a lot of the
times if we got a camera out
to take a picture, say
out the front of a shop,
they'll come over and
be like, give me money.
You need to pay for that photo.
And you're like, what, it's
just a photo in the street.
And then they would
turn really aggressive.
But we learnt that from the first time.
So every time that we've gone
back since we've been like,
oh, it's not so bad.
And I also wonder if a
lot of people talking
out about that has made them realize maybe
we shouldn't get so aggressive
with people in the streets.
They are tourists, they
are bringing money.
So I wouldn't say I wouldn't
go back, but it was, yeah,
it wasn't a pleasant experience.
And then Egypt had a few
moments like that as well,
where it was just frustrating.
You get in a taxi, okay,
we wanna go to the market.
And then you're like, "You
know where you're going?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
And then you driving
around and around and then
the sun's setting, you're
in the taxi and you're like,
we should have been there an hour ago
and we're still sitting in this taxi.
"You know where you're going?"
And they just would
tell you that they did,
because I wanted to get the job,
but they didn't know
where they were going.
And we're like, oh, just
take us back to the hotel.
Don't worry about it, it's closed now.
- Yeah, I remember being
in Casablanca in Morocco and going
through the Old Town village
and having that hustle
aspect on me.
And I'm a young guy man,
and I could only imagine how, yeah.
I can totally understand your story.
Okay, career highlight and
career lowlight of traveling.
- Okay, highlight for me is probably
the time when I first started getting
some bigger brand deals
with some bigger brands
that were really reputable.
And I think we were just
growing really quickly
and they were, yeah,
I guess longterm big partnerships
that made me be like,
wow, this is actually the thing.
'Cause I'd come from a previous situation
where I'd had some people
close to me saying to me,
this is all gonna end.
Basically telling me it's
a fairytale little bubble,
it's gonna pop any day now.
And then everything was going so well on.
It was just becoming better and better.
I was traveling, all
these jobs coming at me.
And I think that was the
time where I was like, wow,
this is actually a career
and I've actually made
this into a successful life.
So I think that was
probably the highlights.
And then lowlight, I was in
the media many years ago.
Some people have probably heard of this.
There's the whole copycat
thing that went in the media.
This girl basically
went and replicated all
of my pictures.
She just was obsessed with
the idea of my pictures
and she went to the extreme
of going to the location,
wearing the exact same outfit,
shooting the same picture
and just basically trying
to make it as identical as
possible without being me.
- [Megon] What?
- And I basically got called out.
I went online about it.
She blocked me so I put
all over my Stories.
It was when Stories first started
on Instagram and then the
mainstream media caught
on to it and it just went viral.
So, at first it was good
because it was getting all
this outside attention.
But then I learnt the
evil side to the media,
how they can just turn a
story around and portray
you to be a really bad person.
They basically spun the story
around to be that I made
it all up and that I created
it all for a media stunt.
And then just the hate that you receive
from mainstream media, from people,
who then come to your
page and were just saying
the worst things possible.
Just like, you're the scum of the earth.
You should die.
Really horrible keyboard warrior things.
And that was a really scary time for me.
'Cause I was like,
I've never experienced the
media like this and I can
now see how manipulative it can be
and how they can change a
situation to look really bad.
They made me look so bad
and it was traumatic.
- Wow, how many followers did
you have around that time?
- So when the whole thing
went into the media,
maybe I had like 300,000,
and then after it finished,
I maybe grew 2 or 300,000.
- [Megon] Oh, wow.
- So in that terms-
- [Caleb] The last laugh's
on them, I suppose.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, exactly.
- In that aspect, it was good,
but at the time I was like,
my partner was gaining as
well and it wasn't about him.
He was obviously my partner,
we were travel couple,
but he was like, "This is amazing.
We're growing so many followers."
And I'm there just crying,
like, "I want this to end."
So in hindsight it was
good in that aspect.
Still to this day,
people bring it up to me.
I still get a lot of questions about it.
So it was a pretty big
thing to happen online.
No one had ever seen anything about it.
It was top of the news on Snapchat,
everyone was seeing it.
- [Megon] Oh my.
- Yeah,
everyone had heard about
it and it was just bizarre.
It really is a bizarre thing.
If you hadn't heard about it,
look up the copycat story.
You'll still find it everywhere.
But, yeah, traumatic.
- How do you mentally
deal with those things
and haters and all that stuff?
- Oh, okay.
So dealing with like
haters and trolls and all
that online stuff, it's
definitely been a process
of learning how to deal with it,
like learning as an individual
how you deal with these things.
And I've been maturing
over the years and really
learning a lot about
myself and other people.
So in the beginning I really
would fight back and take
it really personally.
There's still to this
day some DMs that come
in or some comments that I
go, oh, that was really mean,
that triggered me to
think down about myself
or think about the situation differently.
But definitely at the beginning,
I would bite back and I'd be like,
(grunts) warrior back at them
and start little arguments.
And then I've learnt over
the years just to not
give it attention.
A lot of these people
they're looking for that.
They're looking for you to upset you,
get attention from you
and if you give that,
that's what they want and
they're gonna keep going.
So if you just ignore it
and just forget about it,
half the time, they're
just looking for attention
and it's not really serious.
- Yeah, you got to have a lot
of empathy for those people.
If you're that type of person,
your life is clearly not
in the place that you want
it to be.
And, look for all the good
that social media has.
We've got to as a culture
as a society to really
figure out how to do it
right and protect each other.
And yes, especially even
during times like this,
it's so heated.
- [Lauren] Yeah, it's a
really sensitive time.
- I think things I've
never been so divisive.
And it's the ability for
everyone to have an opinion
at scale which causes so
many issues and dramas,
which yeah, we never
had before, I suppose,
social media and the internet.
So yeah, fascinating, fascinating.
- More eyes lurking.
- Yeah, you can't say one
thing wrong or it can get
spun the wrong way, and it's like, oh no.
- Or even worse,
you can't say the right
thing and then someone take
it out of context,
or someone who just doesn't agree with it.
We haven't learnt how to
actually agree to disagree
in rational friendly manner.
So yeah, it's sad.
- Yeah, it's definitely hard. (chuckles)
- Do you feel a lot of
pressure when you put content
out there, just like on your Stories?
- Well, yeah, I definitely do.
Sometimes you put something
out there and you're like, oh,
what kind of reaction am
I gonna get from this?
And there's definitely
good parts about it.
You learn, okay, yeah.
A different perspective,
I should've thought
of it like that.
And you have to grow from it and listen
to people's opinions,
but also realize that not
everyone is ever gonna
agree with what you do.
And if you feel like you're
doing the right thing,
stand by what you believe is good.
But just definitely
realize that not everyone's
gonna agree with you and
you're always gonna do
the wrong thing in someone's eyes.
So just don't take it too to heart.
- Yeah, 100%.
- Yeah, amazing.
- All right, sorry we've
gont a bit off track.
(all laugh)
- Getting deep.
- Back into Flight or Fright. (laughs)
What's the craziest, I'm
talking absolute crazy,
do not hold back besides
getting tackled down
to the floor with a green bag. (laughs)
- [Lauren] That's not a travel story.
- I had to bring that up.
It's not even a travel.
- She threw me under the bus.
- No one will have context on that.
Oh no, they will because this podcast
is coming afterwards, won't they?
So you've gotta listen
to episode six in order
to know what that is about.
- To find out.
- Yeah, no, don't listen.
Ellie threw me under the bus.
- [Megon] I was like,
where can I bring to in?
- [Caleb] Your trolls
and haters will be back.
This girl had gone as a teenager. (laughs)
- Okay, craziest story.
- [Megon] What you've done traveling.
- So I've talked about one
previously on a podcast,
so I won't go too much into that,
but I got spiked in
Paris, my drink spiked.
So that was a pretty crazy experience.
But more for a travel one.
We were in Rio a couple
of years ago and we got
invited to stay in this luxury
house and I'm like, oh wow.
It's really beautiful, yeah.
We knew that Rio is a
bit of a dangerous place,
but we were like, oh, it's
a beautiful, nice big house.
It's gonna be in a nice
area, didn't research.
And we'd stay there for a couple of nights
and even at the night
time be venturing around
the streets, going to
restaurants, going to bars,
not being at all careful with phones out,
expensive handbags, expensive watches.
Didn't think twice about
any of that thing 'cause
we're like, oh, we're just
in a nice area, whatever.
And then a couple of days
later we met this guy
that lived there and he's like, oh,
I'll come pick you up and
I'll take you out shooting
for the day.
I'll take you to some cool spots.
And then we told him where we were-
(Megon laughs)
- Sorry, sorry.
- Shooting photos.
- [Caleb] When I'm shooting,
I'm like, what? (laughs)
- Shooting out in Rio? (chuckles)
So we went out to take photos with him
and when we told him
where we were staying.
- [Megon] Caleb's done for the podcast.
- [Caleb] I'm lost, I gone.
- [Megon] He's turning red.
- It's only funny 'cause
we had our Mexican story
we were talking about just before.
I know obviously Rio
is a different country,
but anyway, go on.
- And he's like, "Oh, to pick you up,
I'm gonna have to wait to get this car."
And we're like, "Oh, why?"
He's like, oh,
"I need a bullet proof
car to come pick you up."
- What?
- And we're like, excuse me?
- [Caleb] For shooting, for what?
- That's a thing?
He's like, "Oh, you're
in really dangerous area.
I don't wanna drive.
I don't feel safe driving to pick you up
from there without a bulletproof car."
And we were like, oh wow.
This is actually a thing.
So he came and picked us up
and when we were with him
for the whole day, he was
telling us, he was like,
you know where you are,
you're right between two,
what are they?
- [Caleb] Cartels?
- Favelas.
- [Caleb] Yeah, okay. The slums?
- Yeah.
So basically, we were in the
middle of two and he's like,
it's very common that the area,
they have guns shoot offs between them.
They'll meet in the
middle and shoot off like
they had the war.
And he's like, you're
in a really unsafe area.
There's so much crim, street crime.
Oh, we've just been like
walking on the street late
at night to a bar to get
a drink and to dinner.
He's like. (gasps)
You could just see him just
like, oh, you're kidding.
And he's like, no, you
can't stay there any more.
You need to get out of there.
You need to stay in another hotel,
get out of there and he
was really concerned.
And then we were like, oh wow,
I guess we should be worried.
So then we started looking
up the area and straightaway,
most dangerous areas in Rio.
And it was like bang, the
neighborhood we were in.
We're like, oh cool.
So the place was staying at,
we were actually doing a collaboration.
Jack was to stay there and
doing some promotion for them.
And then we said to them, hey,
we're not gonna stay any longer.
We're actually gonna go
stay this hotel and I'm not
gonna be able to follow
through with the posts
that I said.
It's a very dangerous area.
I don't feel comfortable
telling my audience to go
stay in your house.
And he took it really
wrong and was really angry
and was basically saying
to Jack, I'm gonna take
you to the media.
You've taken advantage
of us, you've done this.
And it turned really nasty.
And we were like, I'm sorry,
you need to see it from our side.
This is one of the most
dangerous neighborhoods in Rio.
We cannot be responsible
for promoting our followers
to come to this area
and stay in this house.
- Yeah, was Jack doing a collaboration
with the local prison or what?
(all laugh)
Don't say that you'll
get another legal lawsuit
or something from them,
but that's crazy, wow.
- So that was a pretty crazy story.
- [Megon] That's intense.
- [Caleb] That is intense.
- Luckily nothing happened, but I mean...
You have to research.
- Yeah, maybe.
- We were just like,
nice villa, it'll be fun.
(all laugh)
- What's this Airbnb rating?
So what's the weirdest food you've eaten?
- Weirdest food.
So in all the years of my travels,
I've basically been vegetarian.
To me what's weird is the animals I eat.
So I haven't really
experimented with eating weird
things in weird countries.
I would say Cuba was quite
a tough place to eat.
I did have some okay food in
Havana, but outside of there,
I wouldn't say it's like
somewhere I would go back
for their food.
It was like beans and rice.
- Yeah, I spent some
time in Havana in 2018.
As soon as you get the plate,
it's always the same plate.
They don't do decorative meals.
- [Lauren] Yeah it's not delicate.
- It's like, here's your
staple, here's your staple,
here's your staple.
- And it's quite plain and I
was vegetarian then as well.
I ate fish, but yeah,
there wasn't many options.
- [Megon] Lots of potatoes.
- I remember thinking
when I was there, well,
I came here for the 1950s feel,
so I might as well eat
like I'm in the 1950s.
- That's so true.
I mean, an amazing place, but yeah,
don't go there to eat your heart out.
'Cause it's not the spot for it.
- [Caleb] Exactly.
- All right, you probably
get this question all
the time actually, but
what's the craziest thing
you've done to get the pic?
- Okay, we've done a lot
of crazy things and most
of them probably come back to cliff sides
and hanging off balconies.
We had quite a reputation for doing some
really dangerous things.
And we've definitely chilled out on it.
But a few balconies as one
Lebua Hotel in Bangkok,
and we were jumping
from balcony to balcony
to get to the next one.
- [Megon] Oh my gosh.
- There were people in
that room probably jumping
onto someone else's
balcony so that we could be
a balcony apart to shoot each other,
this is me and my partner.
And going from balcony to balcony,
you're floors in the sky
looking down, I'd be like, oh,
I think I'm gonna be sick.
And you're climbing.
And they're not joined.
So they're little
half-circles and there's a gap
between them and you're going
from balcony to balcony.
Oh, I feel sick thinking about it.
- If you didn't put
hashtag park hour, parkour,
that was a park hour, parkour,
yeah, then it's a travesty.
- And then there was
definitely some cliff sides.
Like in, Zante in,
Zakynthos in Greece, this one cliff side
over Shipwreck Beach is so beautiful,
but so dangerous and so scary.
It's like a cliff side
of all rolling stones.
And we were all trying to
get to the most unreal,
epic spot to be basically
on the edge of the cliff.
And then someone's gotta be
at a certain angle to get
the picture of you guys
hanging your feet off
and you are so high, like, oh.
And it was me. Ellie was there as well.
She was doing it and my friend
Michelle, and I just
remember being like, oh,
I feel sick just the thought
of someone just making
one wrong slip.
And it's so dangerous, but you're like,
I really want this photo.
- [Megon] You got it, right?
- Yeah, we got 'em, still
here today, we're all okay,
but it's dangerous.
- Yeah, no protection gear?
- No.
(all laugh)
No harness.
- Well, let's pause the
podcast for a second.
Just a quick announcement.
Firstly thank you so much for tuning
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of your health and fitness
inspo along with a whole lot of fun.
- All right, so moving on,
we've got our favorite all
time segment, Spirulina Shot.
For those that listened to episode six,
you know the drill with Ellie.
This time we've got Lauren on board doing
the exact same thing.
It's spirulina shots multiplied.
That's what Meg has Chris
in the segment with.
And it's called multiply
because Ellie and Lauren,
who we have on at the moment,
they're identical twins and we thought,
what better way to do
spirulina shots than ask
them questions about
each other and they have
to guess it right.
And look, we thought in the last episode
that we gave hard questions,
like tough questions and
that we'd win easily.
And then I got ravaged.
You didn't even do anything.
(Megon laughs)
Five questions.
What was it? Four questions, five?
- Five, five.
- You had to do one.
- I did one, yeah.
- So I had to do three spirulina shots.
So look, I'm gonna do question one.
You're gonna do two and three
just so I can get some evenness in this.
How it works guys, as I said,
we're gonna ask a question,
if Lauren gets it right,
the answer, then we do the spirulina shot.
If Lauren gets it wrong, then she does it.
And I said this in the first episode,
identical twins, made the questions hard.
We expect you to know
what Ellie did on like
December third, 2003.
That's how tough we thought
it was, but it wasn't tough,
It was so easy.
So spirulina quick rundown,
inside every episode,
most bad-arse super food on the planet.
Very, very nutrient dense.
That's the upside.
The downside is it tastes
like creek when you add
water to it, tastes like creek water.
We've got spirulina shots
here with an ungodly amount
of spirulina and very, very little water.
So chugging it down, it's
gonna taste like a fish pond.
So if you want the most bad-arse
super food on the planet,
you don't have to use a lot of it.
Just a tiny little amount,
far less than what we're putting in.
And you can put it in a smoothie,
you won't be able to taste
it and you'll absolutely
kick ares in your day.
So first question.
Are you ready, Lauren?
- I'm ready.
- Do you reckon you'll
get more than Ellie did?
More than four, all of them?
- I hope so.
Depends how honestly she answered.
- I still think they cheated.
It was just so good.
(all laugh)
- They had that telepathic moment.
So we'll never know. (laughs)
- All right, we'll see how we go.
So, if Ellie could only take
one food to a deserted island,
what would it be?
- One food?
Oh, can I have a hint?
Is it like an order thing?
- No, god no.
(all laugh)
- I wanna know what's, is it a meal
or is it one certain thing?
- [Caleb] Not telling you, screw that.
- One food, one food.
Okay, I'm thinking it's either an avocado
or an avocado toast.
If either of them are it, I
kinda get it though, same food.
- I don't even know if it's avocado,
but you gotta be able
to run with one of them.
- Avocado.
You gotta show the camera, don't you?
- Oh, I didn't show the camera.
- [Lauren] Do I hide?
- All right, thank you so much.
I nearly stuffed that up.
So let's show the camera the answer.
- Have they seen it?
- [Caleb] All right.
- [Megon] Yeah.
- It could be anything on the planet,
but you're down to
avocado and avocado toast.
Which one, for spirulina shot.
- Avocado toast.
- You got an avocado toast.
- I don't know, avocado. (laughs)
- [Caleb] No, lock in your final answer.
- Just an avocado is kind of boring.
- [Caleb] Lock in your final answer.
- Avocado toast.
(all laugh)
- What?
Oh man, it was avocado toast.
- Was it?
Was it really?
- Yeah.
- Oh.
- [Megon] Good job.
- I feel like you're cheating,
but I also know you're identical twins.
So you should know this.
- I'm like, it's gotta be avocado,
but she wouldn't just take one avocado.
That would be very boring,
you need it on toast.
- All right, here's my
fault, barely a shot...
- I really started doubting myself.
I was like, what is it gonna be?
Maybe she didn't think of avocado.
Maybe she thought ice cream.
- [Megon] I love how you visualized it.
She can't just take one
avocado in her hand.
- To the camera.
- [Lauren] Ooh.
- That smile.
- [Lauren] Nice green smile.
- One down.
- Oh nice.
- Kind of hope I get one
so I get my greens in.
(all laugh)
- So what's the one thing
that Ellie can't live without?
- Oh, I wonder what she's gonna say.
- That is the answer.
- Can I look now?
iPhone, her iPhone, her phone.
It's permanently plastered to her hand.
- The answer is, drum roll.
- [Lauren] She'll say
something really cute.
- Alex.
- Aw.
- Aw.
- iPhone, El, liar.
(all laugh)
- She's probably upstairs being like,
yeah, fooled 'em. (laughs)
- Trick question.
- [Lauren] So does that mean I--
- You're up. Yeah, you gotta down that.
- All right.
- Meg got off again.
- I'll take this small
one, for the first one.
- [Megon] Okay, fair enough.
- [Caleb] Have you ever done
a straight up spirulina shot?
- No.
- [Caleb] Smart person.
- I've done many of
tequilas not many of these.
Oh, oh yes, fish water.
(all laugh)
Oh.
- We had the perfect idea
that we forgot about.
We were talking tequila
shots in Ellie's podcast
because she had black Himalayan salt.
- Some salt, yeah.
- For the vegan egg that she created.
And then we're like, well,
I've got the lemon water
that she made for me.
All we need to do is combine the three
with the spirulina shot.
We've got our own health
food tequila shots.
(all laugh)
- [Caleb] All right.
- It'd be almost eggy then, wouldn't it?
- [Caleb] Yeah.
- The black salt?
- That sounds like a sick
joke that definitely belongs
in this game.
All righty.
Yeah, Meg, you're asking this next one.
- What's the craziest thing
that Ellie's ever done?
- I'll just show it to the camera.
- I've got two options.
Okay, I'm gonna say both of them and then
I'm gonna pick one.
She joined the army for a
year and she ran a marathon.
Now I gotta to pick one.
- No way, a marathon?
- Okay, it's not that then, your reaction.
- No, I don't know.
(all laugh)
I'm just saying.
You don't even know what's the other one.
You don't even know what's the other one.
- But you weren't amazed by it.
- [Megon] Hold the suspense.
- Oh, 'cause I've listened
to her on her other podcasts.
- Okay, all right.
But I'm gonna go with that
because you were amazed
by the marathon.
- [Caleb] I was amazed.
(all laugh)
Sorry Meg, I screwed you
over. It's going to be Megon.
- Tactics.
- All right I'm not reacting
to anything again.
- Am I doing this shot?
- Yeah, definitely not me.
- So, did I get it?
- [Megon] Yeah.
- And it was army?
- [Caleb] It was the army.
- Oh it was the army.
She's predictable.
- So 42, did she do a full marathon?
- [Lauren] Yeah, full, and half.
- 42 Ks?
- Wow.
- Yeah, 42. So did Alex.
- No way.
- And he completed it and he was sick.
So he was halfway, like,
"You go on without me."
(all laugh)
Oh, yummy.
- Big smile at the camera. Yeah.
- Your next one I'll give it a wash.
- [Megon] Yeah.
- What is Ellie's ultimate pet peeve.
And one sec I'll just...
Don't freak out. I'm not
showing you that one.
- [Megon] It's gonna be away.
- Okay, I can look now.
- [Megon] Yeah.
- Okay, she doesn't have
one particular pet peeve,
a lot of things annoy her,
but I think one of her things is when,
on a menu they don't
substitute the vegan option.
So say it's like eggs
on toast or something
with a side of bacon,
she chooses like-
- We're screwed.
- And she wants to-
- Don't even finish the sentence.
I already know.
- I know, it doesn't even matter. (laughs)
- I'm doing the shot. (laughs)
- Did I get it? That's her thing?
- Having to buy extra
croissants when you remove eggs
or dairy or breakfast menu.
For someone who doesn't have dairy myself,
and can't remember the
last time I had an egg,
I can definitely agree with that as well.
- Oh, you know what she's going through.
Sometimes she's just walks out. (laughs)
- I'm like I'm saving your business money.
- So just give me a side of avocado.
- So just substitute, exactly.
Substitute avocado for
a bloody bit of cheese.
- It'd be a bit crazy not to find like
a dairy alternative these days.
There's hemp milk, macadamia
milk, there's everything.
- [Lauren] There's every
milk, but when you travel.
- Oh, yeah.
- The good news is this
is my last one of the day.
- Are you sure?
- You're doing the next question.
(all laugh)
How many are you on now?
- [Caleb] This is five.
- [Lauren] (laughs) I've
done one on and I'm like oh.
Champion.
- Yummy, fish water. (laughs)
Sushi.
- Okay.
- Just think of it as like sushi.
- [Megon] Oh yeah.
- I'm never having sushi again.
(all laugh)
- It's all there.
It's got a little bit of...
Look as I say, I shot spirulina.
I don't put it in a smoothie.
I'm not a big smoothie maker.
I have Tropeaka products straight.
- Oh, he's hardcore.
- Yeah, just for efficiency.
But I have it in a lot more water.
So it's like.
- [Lauren] Not this strong.
- Not this strong.
The poison is in the dose.
- I feel that after five shots
you should be immune to it.
- [Megon] Yeah.
- Yeah, no. Exactly.
All righty.
- The last question is if
Ellie was granted one wish,
what would it be?
- Oh, I know what my answer for this is.
I hope that she agrees on this.
If she doesn't, I'm really upset.
That I live in Australia.
That I move from Bali to Australia.
- [Megon] Was that it?
- Well, we got a technicality.
- Oh.
- Oh.
- Me and Oreo and Jack move?
- You could be halfing
this spirulina shot.
(both laugh)
For Lauren to move to Palm Beach.
- Oh yeah, same, same. I got it.
- Same, same, but I wanna
see you do another shot.
- Yeah, let's just make
it a celebratory shot.
- So I didn't get it?
You just want me to shot again?
- [Caleb] Oh God, I don't know.
- [Caleb] Just do the shot
just for our entertainment.
(all laugh)
- Cheers.
- [Caleb] Cheers.
Meg takes the shot too easy.
So a bit more reaction.
- Do I have green teeth?
- [Megon] Yeah. (laughs)
- [Caleb] Smile for the
camera, smile for the camera.
Nah, this one.
Lovely.
- Okay, so you've traveled the world.
Actually how many countries
have you been to now
over those eight years?
- Oh, I don't actually know.
Maybe 60 something?
Actually, when I've counted up,
it's actually not a crazy
amount of countries,
but we've done a lot of repetition.
We go to a lot of places.
Every summer we go
to Italy and Greece and
England and it's like always
the same classic places, a lot.
- Nice.
- [Lauren] 60 something is still good.
- I guess, with all of your experience,
we wanna know what your
travel essentials are.
So it's a bit of like an FYI for all
the listeners out there.
So yeah, we're just gonna
ask you like a bunch
of questions about your
traveling necessities, really.
- [Lauren] Okay.
- So tell us what your
three must haves are to take
on a long haul.
- Noise canceling headphones always.
And then I think a really
good thing to bring
with you is a change of outfit.
I think changing outfit halfway,
if you have a stopover
or even on the flight,
it just makes you feel so
much fresher if you arrive
in the country and you're in a new outfit,
and then take your cosmetics
and do your skin care routine
and brush your teeth.
So if you brush your teeth,
do the full routine and moisturizing,
you feel fresh and like
you haven't traveled as far
as you have.
- Yeah, yeah.
That's a good one, yeah.
- That's good.
What advice would you give
someone if they're doing
their first solo adventure?
- Solo?
I haven't really done much solo.
I've always been with
a friend or a partner,
but I think if it's your
first time and you're solo,
if you're a little bit nervous,
I would probably recommend joining one
of those group trips.
You can do like the young, fun ones-
- [Megon] Like Contiki?
- Yeah, I think if you're
looking to just go meet
some people, have some fun,
I think they're a great
way to do it in a way
that's all organized and safe
and you're gonna meet people.
But I mean, that's not
really something I would feel
like doing right now.
- I think about those, it's
always hard to anticipate,
if you get there and the
group's not your vibe,
and then you're stuck with them.
- But then you hear other
people say that they met friends
for life on trips like that.
- Yeah, exactly.
So I guess you just
gotta cross your fingers.
- I think anyone on a Contiki trip,
their vibe is drinking
and so they're gonna make
the effort there.
(all laugh)
And not remember their trip.
- You only want to have some fun.
But there's other group trips that aren't
necessarily party ones.
You can join some other ones
that are more adventure.
They might be hiking ones
or you don't have to do
the classic European
get drunk tour (laughs)
that most Australians do.
- So what are your top tips
for exploring a new country?
So we've learnt to Google
places before going.
- Yeah, do some research.
(all laugh)
I think, yeah, research
is really important.
I used to always find these
really nice fact sheets on Pinterest.
If I looked up a location,
they come up like an
infograph and they would tell
you tips about the
currency, cultural things,
what's the sensitivity,
things you shouldn't do,
how you should dress.
And they're just a quick,
nice, easy information guide.
'Cause I've definitely made some mistakes
in the past where I
haven't researched enough,
got into a location and
probably not dressed
100% appropriately or little things like
that where you've been
like, I think it's fine.
I think it's fine to wear this.
And then when you speak to
somebody, they might be like,
oh no, you probably shouldn't
when you're in this area
or things like don't pose
in front of a mosque.
As a tourist, I had no
idea until somebody told me
you shouldn't pose in front of them.
And then I was like, oh, okay.
So I think in terms of
being culturally sensitive,
do a little bit of research.
I think it goes a long way
to just respect different people.
- Yeah, nice.
And what advice would you
give someone who wants to,
so many aspiring travel
influencers out there.
What advice would you give
them in terms of starting
a career in travel besides
not starting during COVID?
(all laugh)
- Yeah, it's an awkward
time to give this advice.
I think with being a travel influencer,
you have to really love it.
You have to have the passion
because it looks really
glamorous on the outside,
but in reality,
there is some moments
that are not so glamorous.
Things go wrong, it's
stressful, you're tired,
you might end up having
a really big argument
with your boyfriend, might look like
we're just traveling around the world,
the best of friends all the time,
but you're under stressful situations.
So you need to be loving it.
There's gonna be a lot of early mornings
or sacrificing your nice dinners for being
in a spot for sunset.
So definitely comes with some sacrifice
of the early mornings
and I think what people
don't realize how much work goes into it.
It's very different to
just going on a holiday
and enjoying and being in
a spot to actually being
there and taking pictures
and it being a job
where you are under pressure to perform,
get certain photos and content.
So you have to really
love it because it's going
to take a bit of the joy out of traveling.
That's inevitable when
you're doing it for work.
It becomes more like
you're doing business.
You gotta be really professional
and you're under a lot
of pressure and stress.
But I think if you love
it and you love to travel
and you're ready to sacrifice,
I think just go for it and really learn
how to take really nice pictures
because that's what being a
travel influencer is about,
is having beautiful
images and telling really
nice stories or telling good
experiences and sharing.
How you share that message and that story
is really important.
It's obviously a very
competitive industry,
but it doesn't mean that
you can't make it today.
If you can find a way
to show a new side or do
something unique, that's gonna stand out,
that's super important now,
especially when it's so
competitive and everyone wants
to be a travel influencer.
But I think it's 100%
possible and if you love it,
then just go for it.
Don't quit your dream.
I had people around me telling
me it's never gonna happen.
Give up now, you're gonna
be back in your job.
- [Megon] Are they
still your friends? Not?
- No.
So yeah, chase your dreams for sure.
- I love that, I love that so much.
That's very close to my heart as well
with starting Tropeaka.
So, really cool.
Where would you wanna travel to-
- After?
- Where you haven't?
Well, tell me where you wanna
travel to where you haven't.
You said you've been
to about 60 countries.
What country would you like to go to
that you haven't been to?
And also tell me where you wanna travel
after COVID as well.
- I want to go to more
Scandinavian countries.
So I wanted to go to
Sweden and then up further
north to Iceland, Norway.
I haven't been to a lot
of those colder countries.
Whenever I'd go to Europe,
it'd be summer and be like,
let's just go to the summer locations.
And then I really wanna
explore more of Africa.
I wanna do more of South
Africa, I've only really been
to Cape Town for a few days.
So definitely that area of the world.
Obviously there's so many more places
in South America I haven't
been to that I would love to.
But afterwards, it's
hard to say where we'd go
first after 'cause it's been so long
since we have traveled.
We keep talking about going to a city,
maybe like an Asian city,
like Japan or Korea, just
because we want that real
crazy city feeling, but
maybe I'll just wanna go
to a tropical Island. (laughs)
- You're pretty close
with Gold Coast so far.
- Is there anywhere in Australia
that you actually haven't been?
- Tasmania. I really wanna go.
You know where else I haven't explored?
It's actually really high
on my list, New Zealand.
I've been before, but only like as a stop.
It was a job.
So we were there for a couple of days.
Didn't really get to
explore or do anything
fun and beautiful.
So I really wanna do New
Zealand and Tasmania.
They're my two mountainous
cold places around here.
- Yeah, would you choose
summer over winter
or winter over summer?
- Typically I choose summer destinations,
but I did a trip to
Finland a couple years ago
and it was one of my
favorite trips I've ever
done because it was so different.
It was in February.
It was that Christmas, going into igloos,
doing a little reindeer sled and making.
- [Caleb] Northern lights.
- Northern lights, doing ginger bread,
staying in these little
igloo hotels, glass ones.
Oh, every time I talk about it,
I just like get all warm and fuzzy.
I just loved it so much.
We went with Ellie and Alex as well.
So it was like a little family
trip and I think as a kid,
we grew up watching Christmas
movies where they were
like snowmans in the snow and that sort
of reality isn't Australian.
So when I was there,
felt like I was living
my fairy tale as a child
in Santa's land.
And I think that's why it was so special
and felt so unique.
- Well, look we're pretty
close to finishing here
with this podcast.
Gone so quickly, but we've
got some final questions
and we can't have you leave without asking
you this all important question.
You're a big fan of Tropeaka and I mean,
you're doing obviously less traveling,
but you even were talking
before about how you even
had it in Bali and you took
it back home and whatnot.
And so it's a very
obviously convenient product
to have on the run and so our smoothie.
So what's your go-to smoothie,
if you were traveling as well,
would you change things up?
What would be your
go-to Tropeaka smoothie?
- My go-to is the original
smoothie that I tried
when I first tried the Tropeaka products
is the caramel banana smoothie.
And it was the caramel
protein with the banana milk,
like oat milk and then some ice.
And if I'm wanting to make it a bit sweet,
I'll put a date in.
It is so simple for so yum.
Unless you wanna make it, it's
like a treat I'm like, ooh.
It's so healthy but you
feel like you're having
a little afternoon treat or something.
It's so yum.
So that's definitely
my go-to smoothie now.
If I'm wanting to pick
me up, I'm like, yep.
And then if I just add that to anything,
anything I like to make,
just add the caramel
protein and it's guaranteed
to taste good.
- Yeah, it'd be a great protein.
The salted caramel's my favorite as well,
love it, so good.
Tell us then, talk more about
that, your wellness routine,
not even just with nutrition,
but just in general.
I know obviously in Bali
you're getting plenty
of vitamin D and you love
your trips on the beach
and obviously back here in
the Gold Coast it's same,
but yeah, do you have a
bit of a wellness routine
that you could share with us?
- I'm very into fitness.
As a lot of my community
would know I love to exercise.
So a typical day for me revolves around
my morning routine and it's pretty well
the same every day.
I intermittent fast, not
like strict straight,
But first thing in the
morning that I like to have
is have coffee to start the day.
And then I've been having the body bloom
every morning and that's
my way of getting like
a really big amount of water.
First thing in the morning when I wake up,
I don't wanna just scull water.
I'm like, well, no, I'll
just drink a black coffee.
So that's a good way to
really get heaps of water in.
And then I usually go to the gym.
And when I'm in Bali, I can
spend anywhere between one
to three hours at the gym.
And that's not just working
out for three hours.
I see my friends there.
It's a really big part
of my day to day life.
And same here in Australia as well.
I do it in a very social aspect,
go to workout classes with friends.
And then I would also incorporate the spa,
so doing the hot and
cold sauna to ice bath.
So wellness is a huge,
fitness is a huge part
of my day to day life
and I would exercise nearly every day,
whether it's just walking my dog Oreo.
And then next up where I
love to have a smoothie,
is my go-to morning and
obviously I'm having
the protein in the smoothie
or I'll make oats and put
my protein in those as well,
make my protein oats. (laughs)
So my mornings quite revolve
around yeah, being outside,
to getting some fresh air,
being active and having a
healthy start to the day.
'Cause if I have a healthy start,
I feel like the rest of
the day just follows along.
- [Megon] Yeah, sets you up for the day.
- It sets me up, yeah.
- But how do you stay
on track with, I guess,
do you have a fitness routine or anything
when you're actually traveling?
How does that fit in?
- When I'm traveling it's not as strict.
Especially if I'm on a job,
majority of your hours are
spent either shooting, editing,
getting up to sunrise,
doing your hair, makeup.
So it can be hard,
but definitely over the
last couple of years,
I've tried to really
incorporate keeping fit
and healthy while I'm
traveling more and more
because I know how much
better it makes me feel.
Whether if I just go
on a trip for two weeks
and I'm traveling every
month for two of the weeks,
most of the time.
If you just keep going back and acting
as though you're on a holiday each time,
it can make you feel
really tired and unwell.
So definitely part of my wellness routine
is getting sleep in.
I think that's super important.
I will sacrifice sleeping
in longer so that I can
get my sleep.
And that's when I'm in a routine,
that's when I feel amazing, consistency.
- [Caleb] Yeah, I love that, so good.
- But having the balance of,
I think in life it's having the balance.
Stepping out to have a bit
of fun and it not being
the thing that rules your life.
It's not like, oh, this is all I do.
You have a balance.
So you can still go out,
have fun with friends,
have some drinks, but also a
good balance of eating well,
exercising, doing things
that make you feel good.
- Yeah, 100%.
I mean, that's part of
the mental health as well
that comes with social
and community and having
fun with friends.
So I love that so much.
One last question, let's talk post-COVID.
What's your future goals and
aspirations with your career,
your accounts, are you
inspired with being an auntie
that you wanna be a mum yourself?
- Oh!
- Big question.
- [Caleb] Yeah, exactly.
- Okay, so before it all hit off,
we were starting to make
our plans to actually,
this is a bit of a spoiler alert.
So your audience are getting a spoiler.
We were actually starting
to make the plans to base
out of Australia.
So to do that, we have
our dog Oreo in Bali.
We can't just whip him
on a plane and bring him
to Australia from Indonesia.
So we were starting to plan to go move
to Europe for like six
months to a year and see
out his quarantine there
because he has to live
in a non-rabies country
for a certain amount
of time before you can even apply to bring
him into Australia.
- [Caleb] Oh wow, okay.
- Yeah, so it's a big process
and he's very important to us.
So we were prepared to do
that and it was also gonna be
a fun new thing to be in another new city,
be in Europe, and then
make our way to living
out of Australia, basing here again.
So hopefully that will be one of our plans
when it all ends is starting
to make that process.
But then business-wise,
we are launching a video editing app.
- Oh, wow.
- That's awesome.
- So yeah, that's also
a little spoiler alert.
- [Caleb] Yeah, that would
be a really juicy detail.
- So we're in the final
processes of putting together
a video editing app,
which we think is gonna be really good
and we're super excited.
So we're hoping that becomes our new thing
that we're so like
concentrated on in our next
big project that we're known for.
So that will really
inspire us to keep creating
as well and traveling more
so that we can use our app
and be getting all these beautiful videos
and capturing it all around the world.
And then my partner's
starting a clothing brand
and I'm thinking about
the same sort of thing
of starting my own
brand that I can let off
my creativity through having something
that's like physical.
'Cause at the moment,
a lot of what I do is online presence.
So I'd like to have
something that's a bit more
like physically create a product.
As you would know, it must feel very-
- [Caleb] For sure.
Well as soon as we launch that,
we'll get you back on the podcast.
We'll have the items right
in front of and we'll get
to speak that.
But yeah, that's really cool. I love that.
We just finished with
Ellie and we're like,
Ellie, is there anything you don't do?
And now Lauren's just come
with like, yeah, launch an app,
go around the world so
I can get my dog here-
(all laugh)
Video editing and hey, guess what?
I'm also gonna launch some
clothing line. (laughs)
Plus doing everything else I do.
You two are-
- Plus going to the gym
for three hours a day.
- Yeah, exactly.
(all laugh)
You two are incredible
sisters and obviously as well
Jack himself and it's amazing.
So tell everyone where
they can find you online
and tell everyone about
your presets as well.
- So you can find me on
Instagram is my main channel
as Gypsea_Lust, Gypsea_Lust.
And then I'm now on YouTube.
That's been a new little venture of mine
so that I could open up and share more
of my life with everyone.
And then if you're looking at our presets,
which is our photo editing filters,
if you're not familiar with presets,
they are under doyouytravelpresets.com
and it's basically
filters or presets to edit
your pictures for mobile or desktop.
- Amazing.
- Love it.
- Well, thank you so much
for, I guess, coming here,
for us coming here. (laughs)
We're definitely super
grateful to have you here.
Just caught you, so yeah.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
We really appreciate it.
- No, thank you for having me on here.
It was super fun and I got to have
my first spirulina shot.
Two!
- Oh, yeah.
- Got my greens in, I'm
feeling good, feeling pumped.
- Here's to many more into the future.
Lauren, we truly appreciate you being part
of team Tropeaka and so
grateful to have you as part
of the family.
And yeah, thank you for
being on the podcast.
- Thank you for having me and
including me in your family.
It's really an honor.
- Thank you so much.
All right, well guys, we'll
see you for episode eight.
- Yeah, see you then.
- Take care, bye bye.
- See ya.
Just a reminder before you leave.
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