A story about a moose and a tent with Nat Amoore

Nat Amoore joins us as we tell stories about travel experiences. To find out more about Nat Amoore you can visit her website at... natamoore.com

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To find out more about R.A. Spratt visit raspratt.com
To find out more about Jacqueline Harvey visit jacquelineharvey.com.au
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Transcript

0:04

Hello and welcome to Let me Tell You a Story. My names are Spratt and I'm here with Jacqueline Harvey and Tim Harris. And today, our special guest star is Nat Amore. Woo. Nat is the author of We Run Tomorrow, Secrets of the Schoolyard Millionaire, The Power of Positive Pranking and The Right Way to Rock, and her new book is Shower Land, Break the Curse, which is the start of an awesome series that you're all gonna enjoy. OK, now we're All authors, which means we're professional storytellers, which is something people don't give much thought to. How do you make a story? Well, I'll explain the process. You know, when you get fairy floss or candy floss? For our American listeners, there's a big round machine wearing with lots of wisps of cotton candy around the outside. Then you take a naked stick and jam it in. At first, nothing happens. Then one wisp of sugar clings to the stick. Once that whispers on, you're away. You turn and turn the stick while more and more cotton candy latches on until you've got a great big pillow of joy on a stick. Well, that's what storytelling is. Our brains are the naked sticks, and life is the world in wisps of sugary delight. So this podcast is all about sharing the wisps of joy that ever did our brains. This week we're going to share them with you by telling you a story each. So let's get into it. The theme of today's episode is travel experiences. So tell me, Jacqueline, AKA Jackie, have you got a story for? US OHS I've got a great travel story. So a few years ago my husband and I were travelling in Europe and it was about a week before Christmas and we went to Saint Moritz. We'd been on the glacier train all through Switzerland, which was amazing. We'd been to Zermat and then we were headed for Saint Mary's, which is a very, very fancy resort. Yeah, it's sort of like, I think. It's technically pronounced samurize. Samurize. Yes, we're in samurais. And it was, it was very fancy. And the hotel we were staying in was also very fancy because when my husband was a young backpacker, he, and actually I think it was beyond his backpacking days. It was probably when he was in his 20s. I thought you were gonna say he and Beyoncé there. But he wasn't with Beyoncé. But I I shudder to think who he might have been with. But anyway, he had. He had had a drink at this hotel with a friend when they had, when they were poor backpackers. And he vowed that one day when he had enough money he would, you know, he would go there again. And so we got picked up from the railway station in this gigantic Rolls Royce like the boys I've ever seen. And it was us. And this other guy got picked up anyway. It was, it was so the the the driver was dressed in one of those magnificent woollen coats. It was just you know had a picked cap. It was very very posh and this other fellow got in to the car with us. He'd been on the train as well hitchhiker he he yeah his backpack just didn't fit with that. The the rest of it anyway the the the part with him is quite funny because we ended up with his room and he was in a smoking room. He was staying for two nights. We were staying for three nights. When I checked the room car, the key card cause they it was one of these places where they check you in with an iPad in the foyer. There's no desk or anything. You know that you have your own personal attentive, you know, attendance. No, I don't. But please go on anyway, you know. You're just describing the lobby of Service NSW. I'm like, isn't that every school? Of coaching that. Is true, that is true. You imagining dinner, How can I send smoke to guest? Cheese please. So it's just a BBQ with a drink? Well, this guy whose name was Mr McDonald because when they gave me the the when I gave us the card, the key card to go to our room and I opened it up and I went that's not our room. And anyway, my husband's like, well we'll just go up there and see and we go up there and the room was basically you couldn't swing a cat sized. And the bathroom was as big as the bedroom which was a bit weird. And I know that you know my husband saying this is not what I paid for. This is not. Anyway, we rang down and no in Switzerland apparently they do not make mistakes. And so no matter how my husband even went down and showed them the key cut. No, no, you are in the right room, Mr Harvey. Anyway, they sent us a about a €200 bottle of vintage champagne to apologise for not being. Wrong. That's a $350.00 Australian apology that was. Pretty 385 New Zealand dollars. That's. So anyway, this hotel just keeps getting sort of this experience gets stranger and stranger. And so the very next, the next morning when we're there, having enjoyed our champagne that evening before, we go to the restaurant and the restaurant has a harpist playing on a stage at the end of the restaurant. And all the waiters are in white tie and they're extremely, you know, attentive. And basically you, you just finish eating something and you're playing all gone. You know, you didn't have time to sort of a, well, I was quite enjoying mopping up that bit of, you know, sauce, but no. Anyway, my husband is sitting there and we look around the room and there's all of these. There's probably about half a dozen really beautiful Middle Eastern women with long cascading hair down to their waists and with each of them, and they're all sitting on separate tables. And there's these guys with muscles on their muscles and they've got really tight T-shirts. And. And I said to my husband, there must be a bodybuilding convention summer. It's, you know, right before Christmas. So we're wondering about these mostly men and these gorgeous women. And anyway, it wasn't until the next day that we're at breakfast again and we sat at the other end of the restaurant. This time we had a really good view of and there was this big round table in the centre and this man is greeted at the door by the HD and he's he's just got like normal Chino pants on and a a blue shirt but there's. Sounds like my husband before. These three women are very glamorous again, Middle Eastern looking women, long hair. But they're wearing gold and maroon gowns like, you know, like almost like academic gowns, right? Golden brown. And they all have convention. Well then I've started thinking, but they all had T-shirts on. And then when I looked at the T-shirts and I looked at the guy, I'm like, that's his face on their T-shirts. Why is his face? On this what?

And then, well, maybe. And then there were two little girls that came in that were they were probably about, I don't know, maybe 5:00 and 7: 6:23

00 and. And you thought I sell them a book? I know. How I was definitely thinking that at this point. And then they had each had a nanny. They looked like they were they. Had separate nanny. Separate nannies each like Filipino nannies I would say. Or, you know, some somewhere from Asia. And then this white, really pasty white guy comes in with a big backpack and I'm thinking this is the oddest entourage I've ever seen. And they're led to the the central round table. Anyway, they're sitting there and the the man gets his phone out, props it up in front of him, and he's watching football, soccer on the on the phone. And the women are just sort of sitting there, you know, Their coffee arrives, The guy with the backpack gets out the biggest camera I've ever seen with a telephoto lens, you know, half a mile long. And as the women are having their breakfast, he's walking around snapping candid family photos, clearly. And they're like, you know, Yeah, look at me, duck lips. Look at me, you know. OK, just so you know, listener Jacqueline Harvey is now impersonating Kim Kardashian. So so anyway, this is going on. We're thinking this is really weird and and then the nannies go and get plates full of food for the little girls and then they stand feeding these children who are clearly old enough to feed themselves. So at this point I'm like we've got to investigate you know what's what's there. And that's right. The little kids had football jerseys on and it had Qatar on their or Qatar it depending where you live in the world, Qatar or Qatar football jerseys. So I say to my husband, right? You need to take some pictures, so. He's there, he's there with his iPad and he's surreptitiously pretending to read the paper whilst taking photographs of this this scene. I'm surprised the bodybuilders didn't jump him right then and there. And the body. Builders again. We're all scattered around the restaurant anyway. Then I'm on my my phone Googling important families of Qatar, and I'm thinking, you know, who are these these people? It takes me about 10 seconds. He is the emir of Qatar. He's the king That his wife number, I don't know, Four. Wife number six, wife 10. This is child 27, no child 28. And they were the Qatari royal family and all of those beautiful girls were all princesses of Qatar. Now I thought that OK. Let's go back to the T-shirts with his face on them. Yes, it's that. So he knows they're with him. Possibly, because when you have that many wives and that many children, you probably gotta keep track of them in. Some, yeah. Well, especially if your brothers come to visit, you don't wanna hit on the wrong wife. To be fair, I do make my brother wear a T shirt. With your face on it. Just the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I thought there was no way that anybody would actually confirm for me that, you know, this is the Qatari royal family, you know, because obviously confidentiality and you know, yeah, all sorts of threats of, you know, any sort of threat against the family, that would be terrible. I, on the day we were leaving and the driver who was taking us back to the train, I said to him, So you've got a really important family in from Qatar at the moment. He said Oh yes, Madam, the guitar. The Emir of Qatar is here with his wives and his children and his and the princesses and I'm thinking like he's just told like you don't even know who I am. I could have been an assassin and you didn't. You know you told me this and I asked for you. Well, definitely played into the whole Kenzie Max thing. But I said to him, I damn there's a private airport. There's a private jet airport just on the edge of Saint Moritz called Samedan airport and and they were all as we went back to the the train there were all these private jets lined up at their. Separate one for each wife and child, probably. Well, you can't actually know that as a royal you can't fly on the same plane. Oht Yeah, that's. True. That's cause you'd hate to leave lose three of your 15 wives at once. Exactly, exactly. So there you go. So we met. Well, we didn't meet them because there was no going to talk to them, but. We you dined with them. We were in, we were breathing the same rarefied areas. The. Qatari Was this in cover times? No, no, no. Well, I I've, I've brushed with royalty. I, Princess Anne, you know with the British royal family of very Close. I was at the Royal Easter show when I was in year 11 because I went to James Bruce and we had to go every year and they give us these big forms and we had to fill them out about all the cows we had observed because it's an agricultural school and we had to go look at all the animals and you weren't allowed to miss anything or you'd get in trouble. And I remember actually that year they had a thing that if you picked up a whole bag of trash, you got a free chocolate bar. So we were like just spend the whole day picking up trash and getting free chocolate bars. But anyway, we had, I was heading up to the goats because I had to fill in my, my, my form about goats. And they were judging the goats and they're judging the goats was Princess Anne and she was as close to me as you, Nat Amore are now about a metre looking at goats. And she looked very knowledgeable and like. Yeah, yes. That was my brush with Royal Familty. Yeah, I've got another. I've got another really good royal story, but I'm gonna save it for. Another Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Throwing my brush with fame so I worked on Celebrity Survivor in Vanuatu. Of course you did. Distance was the bridesmaid of the one that married the. Danish, Mary. Mary, Mary, close as I've. Got Amber. Amber. Amber somebody? Yeah, that's her. So.

I was filming her from 6:00 PM to 6: 12:20

00 AM with a one of those night vision cameras. Oht you perv? Yeah, She wasn't just hiding. She wasn't hiding in the bushes. I wasn't. I was paid to do it is the worst. Excuse for. Immoral. Action camera and yes, the best. At the same time, I don't know how it works. It helps fund your defence. That's about all you can say for it. So, so the the final part of the the story is that that hotel and some of those characters inspired a story for Alice Miranda. So the whole trip was tax deductible? Including. Our private jet, the. The the the hotel got a new name. I call it Fangers Palace Hotel, but anybody who's been to Saint Moritz would probably be able to work out which hotel it. Really. Yeah, cause cause it's a big crossover between 10 year olds. Yeah, people have been to San Luis. Don't recognise it straight. Away. Yeah. Yeah. Tim, do you have a story for us today about travel? I was once at Sam roots with my wife, this paper with iPads and it's just. Weird. It was weird. There's this creepy guy trying to take photos of me and chinos. I want some travelled 20 hours onto aeroplanes to go to a concert OHS. But you know there's all that hype about Taylor Swift at the moment. I'll fly 28 hours to get away from so much, shouldn't say that. Dictated You gotta be really careful. What you say there, Tim, You can get lynched. Yeah, that was just so joke for that. For that, yeah. Yeah, we just. Gotta. Have a disclaimer here. We all love Taylor and Tim does not want the whole Swifty army after him. Or does he? My book Swifties Supertramp. Ohhhhh yeah. So they're like the most famous, unrecognisable band. Yes, name some songs. Did they do the OHT? You know what, I'm sure I did a show where I was dressed as like a zombie wedding dress and I had to dance to one of their songs. Freaky freak something. Super freak is that. There. No. Yeah, this is what I mean. Like people I know, but the psychic. Can anyone name any songs? I can possibly hear one in my head, but I'm not. Going to give a little bit, Yeah, give a subway at the moment. The logical song when I was young. That one, Yeah. Yep. Dreamer. Sorry ohe your dream dreamer. It's raining again. My husband I don't understand. Very well. Right. Can you give us a rendition of their most favourite famous? Subway. Go dreamer. Nothing but a dreamer. OK, yeah, yeah, OK, No more because of copyright reasons. It was sort of tuna, way better. Tuna. That's right. And that's my story. So 2007, I had a year of teaching and I thought, right, Roger Hodgson from Supertramp is playing a concert in London. So I'm going to go to London for a concert. Yeah, So I booked my concert tickets 1st. And you know, so you guys familiar with Murphy's Law? Yes. Very so. This anything that will go wrong could go wrong. So this story is the story of Reverse Murphy's. Law, Ohio. Anything that could go right went right in the most ridiculous way. So I bought my tickets booked the flights flew over to London and the night of the concert I remember sitting on this big red you know double Decker bus got winding through the London streets and and realising looking at the ticket going ohhhhh that's that's the Royal Albert Hall. OK. I think that's a pretty famous venue because I didn't really know too much about London venue so we rock up at the Royal Albert Hall and I showed that usher my ticket and he he says I Mr. Harris you're you're right down the front and again I didn't know the layout of the the the Royal Albert Hall and save you sort of taking it right down to the front 2nd row wow right in front of his world it's a so as. Close as you can get without being. Spanked without being spattered. Exactly right. And he comes out and I'm just thinking, yeah, I can almost reach out and touch, you know, my musical hero for for 20 years. He starts playing the set this and it was like my dream setlist. It was just the perfect set list that I could have imagined that he would. See, I don't know anything about. Is he a guitar? Player he so well, it's the keyboard. Guitar. Grand cause I love it. When you're close enough, you can see what chords. They're playing. Oh yeah, yeah. That's just what cause the angle but it was it was so it was so, so close. Anyway that the concert finishes and I'm just I'm on Cloud 9 but this is reverse Murphy's Law. So anything that could possibly go right is going to go right. And so I'm thinking, well, there's a set list right on the stage there, you know, and this is a treasured piece of concert memorabilia that sat there. So I'm thinking, I reckon I can get one. But of course, the world, it's a set list. It got snatched up by someone pretty quickly, but I'm not giving up. And then the one, his acoustic guitar was still there, and someone grabbed that one. And then I look across the stage and the grand piano is set. This is right there. And so I called out to one of the roadies. I said, oh, please, I've come from all the way from Australia for this concert code. Can I please, please have that set list? And he goes straight to the grand piano, which at the time was my instrument of choice. I was recording my own music on the grand piano. And so he gets this set list and brings it over and all these hands are reaching out and it fell right into my hands. I've snatched it close and I thinking, this is unbelievable. This is like this is the best night ever. And so I go back to the accommodation super, super happy. But I also have tickets for Birmingham. Tomorrow. Night. And so I catch the bus to Birmingham and this time I'm with my step sister and I tell her all about this step set, this. She says you should try and get it signed. After the concert, I said that's a really great idea. So players, another spectacular concert in Birmingham, the big hall there and then and you're following along, following along. This is different. OK, bit of variety, Roger. Well. Done. Is even better and so. Oh, no. Better yet, you. Forgot. Yeah, yeah. You missed a bit. Concert finishes. We go to the backstage sort and this big crowd, big bouncers and people with people that have both that big bodyguards and they all say look here, Rogers not seeing anyone tonight because he's got his family in town, We're so sorry but he can't sign anything and the lady at the door was familiar to him. I'm thinking I've seen her, I've seen her, I know this lady, I know this lady. What, who is she? And my mind is flashing back, flashing back, flashing back. And I realised that she's actually his manager and I recognise her from documentaries on Hardcore Fan. Clearly, you know. She's got a really cool first names Shakti. And so I called out across the crowd. I went Shakti and everyone stopped and sort of turned and, you know, who's this in this with the Australian accent. And she says yes. And I said, oh, I pulled out the set list. I said I've come all the way from Australia to see, you know, Roger play a couple of concerts. And I got the set list from the Royal Albert Hall. I don't suppose you could ask him to sign up for me. And everyone's, they're very, very quiet. You know what she gonna say? They've just said, no, he's not seeing anyone. And she says, oh, just just wait here a moment and shuts the door. And there's a bit of murmuring. And eventually she opens the door up and I'm right at the front. And she literally reaches out and grabs my shirt, pulls me through the backstage. That happens to you all the time when the woman doesn't it? Tim usually it's pulling me into the laundry and so she says to me, Roger would love to see you for 5 minutes. And so she takes me through these little back corridors underneath the the Birmingham concert hall is we go to the dressing room door, it's got the big star there, Roger Hodgson, and it opens up and and there he is and. He gave me back my sense. Your hands and kicked you out. It's only Sander and I was so I was so excited to meet him. I'm from the ground for my camera. My first photo of him is his shoot, but he saw that it was just, it was so good and I didn't sleep that night because it was like the perfect thing. My musical hero for 5 minutes and that that's the time I met my hero. The reversing. I am so happy and excited for past him like I would like through that story I was like, Oh my God, this is so. Exciting for you and I'm really happy that it all worked out cause sometimes meeting your hero is not advisable. So yeah, there are lots of stories where people meet their heroes and are very disappointed. So. Yeah. That was a good story. I always meet my heroes and I don't recognise them. Or like, I just at the moment, like I met Jane Campion, I want to be a filmmaker and I met her coming out of the ladies. I worked at Fox Studios. So I walked in and she was walking out and I was just like, and then as I step into the bathroom I realised that was Jane Camp, you know? You're only interaction with her was, yeah. And she was sort of, you know, like when you sort of open a door and there's someone right in front of you. And she was like, I was like, what? That was our interaction, Academy Award winner Jamie Campbell. Award winning grunted at her. And she's like. I just met five time Auggie winner RA Spratt. And all I did was grunt at her, yeah. Well, I didn't say that I was not a big deal, but that. Was 23. It's a great conversation. Yeah, they'd be translated. Would have been like. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. Yeah, it makes a a haiku look Look Wordy Editions. Of the bathrooms. How's the bowel movements? Oh, that's awful. I'm actually now you say that I'm glad I wasn't in there while she was actually doing. That would have been even more confronting. Especially if the you know if she'd had a dodgy Curry or something. They're not. Ohk just don't ruin the January. It's bad enough. Ohk OK Nat, Do you have a story for? Us. All right, well, I'm going to take it down a notch from princesses and rock stars and tell you a little story of I spent a year travelling around the US when I was 21. I specifically waited till I turned 21 before going. There, yeah. Yeah, have a beer at the. Pub and I spent a year there and ended up going to like, I don't know, like 30 states or something. Like I saw a lot of Wow S. Which was your least favourite? Least. Wyoming. No. Why you mean so? Pretty, I know. Yeah. I'm. Just really, but it it does have that kind of like all I can say about it is it was pretty. Upset. A lot of people say Canada. OHS. No. I don't know. At least favourite. That's a really good question, probably one that I blinked and missed. And yeah, So what was your most favourite? I really liked, like, New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans. And I really loved. I love New York City. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot, actually. But essentially, I had no plans, right? I had a year. Yeah. Yeah. No travel plans. I was just gonna wing it. The. Whole just gotta stay one. Step ahead of the law. Yeah, that's. Right. That's which is how I roll all the time. Yeah, that's my life motto. So the other thing I really had planned, it was quite funny. When I got there, I had like 3 days booked in a really dodgy Backpackers in Hollywood. Yeah. Don't stay in Hollywood, people. Not a good idea. No, it's Terrell and I had this like years and years ago. I'd met this family when I was working in Indonesia. I'd met this American family who had said, hey, if you're ever in California, told us, you know, but that was like 5 years early on, so I didn't do that. Then I was in this backpackers just waiting to get stabbed, essentially. Yeah. Yeah. And I thought, you know what? Why wait? I'm gonna call them. So I rang them up and then I was like, so I don't know if you Remember Me but. And they're like, Oh my God, yes. Where are you? I'm like, in California. Where are you doggy backpackers in Hollywood? No, you're not. We're coming to get you. So they came and picked me up, drove me back to their house That was like on Manhattan Beach in California. Like it was just I went from the worst to the most. Amazing. And then, so that was the beginning of my trip as it was kind of reverse Murphy's Law kind of style, OK. Wait a SEC. Do we need to pause to let the lender in? Maybe we do she's. She's down the back. Oht I'm so sorry. Don't. That's OK. It was a perfect time to hold that thought. Yes. No, it was. It was a terrible. Time. No, it was cause I was about to jump from California to another state, so it worked out OK. Alright, OK. Should we shall we pick up to one? Do you want anything to help you lead back into? Where you literally just about to jump. Alright. It was a when I said it was perfect timing, I actually. Literally made. OK, well I'm sorry listens. We had an interruption. There's very pesky person called Dane, Belinda, Murrell turned. Up. But we will now resume the story. Nat, please continue. Yes. So after putting California aside, eventually I ended up meeting these three young people. So it was a couple and another guy, so a girl, a guy and another guy who were all friends, and they decided to move their lives from the East Coast to the West Coast. Now I've just flown from the West Coast to the East Coast to go and see the East Coast, but because they were taking a road trip and taking their time, I was like, man, I'll just go back again and then I'll fly back because I'm like, I can't really say no to a free road trip. And these people were really cool and whatever, so I just jumped on their trip. And so we were driving from the East Coast to the West Coast, kind of the northern route. So I was gonna be able to see there's what are the hints. The The Rock. Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore. Thank you. Is it S North Dakota? Yes, that's right. So we're doing it kind of the north route and it was all very kind of like unlike the princesses and the rocks, that was all very camping and sleeping in the back of cars and stuff like that. Anyway, we had the most amazing trip and we ended up in a National Park. Honestly, can't even couldn't even tell you which one it was now, but ended up in National Park. We were going to camp there for the night, so we set up this tent. There was four of us and we had a barely was a two person tent, you know, and it's like a two person tent and you're like, yeah, like what two people fit in there? Yeah, half of Tim would have fit in there. Yeah, yeah. Wait a minute. Did you just call Tim? Fat. Not directly, but that's what I definitely implied it. Yeah. Anyway, so we, all four of us were gonna squeeze into this little tube. Yeah, super cosy. And there were signs everywhere like, you know, don't leave food out, bears and all that kind of stuff. So we're really conscious of putting the food away and. Everything. Yeah, yeah. Not a high on my list of to dos in the US anyway, We had a nice night, had a nice dinner, and then all of us squeezed in and we were literally like bent up sardines inside, all four of us inside this tent. And of course, because we were so squished in, it was boiling hot. Like all tents are always boiling hot. They're like saunas. But we were like, so hot. So we decided to open the the door of the tip. Ohhhhh. That's how the Bears get. In yeah, you'd think, wouldn't you? Anyway. And we've had a few drinks the night before, so we were sleeping very soundly and everything. And in I guess it was morning, you know, I kind of heard like a bit of a rustling. And I was like, hmm, And I kind of woke up. Everybody else was still like I sort of woke up and I sat up and we had the the front part unzipped but they still had the the screen wire. I'm fine thank you. Fly screen zipped sounds like what is that? And I just got out the tent kind of like moved a little bit and I still half asleep. So I was like whatever and I sort of length sat up and went forward and logically the door is like a centimetre away from me because it's so small. And I unzipped the flywire and I was went to put my head out and all of a sudden this massive head came up and I was like so still half asleep that I could not even register what it was, right. And so it would just kind of came at the tent and then it's sort of like hit the front of the tent. All I saw was fur and eyes. And so I like went back and then it kind of took a step back and then put its head to the side and went one antler in and then the other antler in. Let's try to like Widge you're. Hitting Weird Bear. That's what the book said. So it got its antlers in and it were just looked at me and just went and I went and screamed at the top of my voice. So of course that woke the other three up. We all sat up in bed, they saw the moose and all went. Nervous. Screaming at this moose head and because its neck was in the tent of the. Door The door in the door it. Looked like one of those ones you put up on a waht. Jackie's got one in her house. With the princesses. And of course when we all screamed we freaked the moose out. Yeah, the moose backed up, but because it's antlers were inside the tent, it took the tent with it. So all of a sudden this tent gets its IT wasn't a very stable tent but it's tents gets its peg dropped out of the floor. So it's pulling this tent along by its antlers, backing up, freaking out. It's like a sock being dragged with four people rolling around like a like a like a tumble dryer where all like entwined in each other spinning upside down. It's running backwards. Why are you getting dragged around? You and your brother used to drag around in the sleeping bag. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, with the kitchen and we're screaming our heads off. The moose is freaking out. Eventually it's antlers ripped through the tent and it disappeared and we were just left like 4 bodies all tangled up, wrapped up in a tent, pegs sticking out our ears just like in a big like pig. And one of my friends just turns to me and just goes. What just happened? And so not only was that a great travel story, but it was also the weirdest way I've ever woken up in my entire life. That's fantastic. Is there any video moose? No, it was. It was before. Yeah, this was this was 2001. So it was like. You know, they would have had to have been a cave painting, yeah. We do interpretive dance if you want us to read. That's why there's always the moose and the bisons on cave paintings like you never believe I woke up this morning. So that was, yeah, not quite as fancy as some other trouble stories, but certainly unique. If not, I. Think statistically more people get killed by mooses moose then then by bears because they hit them with their cars and stuff. Isn't it and and hippopotamus in Africa? Yeah, more than any other oht. Have you seen those videos of Hippopotamus's attacking people? They are scary because they disappear under the way you think I'm safe and then they reappear. And then they're like, oh, but look how cute my babies are. Don't be scared. And then they just eat your face. But. Then the babies are aggressive too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you see the the video the other day of a moose in Canada that there were people on a ski field and they were. There's fellow with the GoPro and this moose comes out of the side of the the trees and he's the guy with the Gopros behind the moose and the moose is running out of control down the slope and he's yelling out. He's going look out, there's some boots and all these people are skiing. After all the stories chasing the moose going? Look at there's some scans anyway. But yeah, I thought that would be pretty scary, having a, you know, turning around and having a moose barrelling down at you. Well, and they're so big. Like, however big you think of Mooses, it's it's five times the size of what you imagine. They are, and it's not like rocking Bullwinkle. Stuff. No, they he didn't know Like who? What's the? No, he was just. Like. He didn't do that. He Rocky. Again. Alright, well I think we better wrap up with my story. I don't know that it can live up to your stories. My my travel story centre just be hapless and sad. I went to when I was like 20-3 at the end of my first year working at Good Newsweek. I had some money and when I went round Europe when I was 18, I didn't have money. And also I was on my own and I and there was lots of people getting robbed going into Italy. So I thought on the trains between France and Italy, lots of people got robbed. That I knew. So I thought, I'm not going to get to Italy on my own when I'm 18. I'll wait till I'm 23 and can handle it. So I went to when I was 23 and had a bit more money and everything and I had a great time. I went to Rome and Florence and it was really amazing because I love art and I learned so much. I saw the statue of David and the Sistine Chapel and it was amazing, but I was really tired at the end of the 10 days. So I was flying home so I had to get the train to the airport. So I got the train and I'm on my own. And you know, when you're travelling you have to be really sort of conscious and you're on your own. So I got on the train, It's like, you know, where's a carriage with no one dodgy in it. And I found this really nice carriage and I was like how my own. And I've been sitting there. The train was about to pull away and someone got into the carriage, sat down opposite and he was like a scummy looking guy, just took out a pack of cigarettes and started smoking. And I'm like, ohhhhh, gross. And I'm like, oh, I can put up with this is only like an hour. And then someone said, oh, someone smoking in there, let's all go and smoking. So I had to pick up all my stuff, all my suitcases, all my souvenirs. And I found another carriage knowing in it, I went and sat down. I thought, OK And it looks like literally the train starts moving. I think I'm fine. I got a carriage to myself, starts moving and the doors open, you know, those little carriages and they fit about 6 people and the doors open. And this guy comes in and he's actually pretty nicely dressed. He's wearing a suit and everything, but he's like like 2830. And you know, this looks a little bit, little bit dodge. And so I'm sitting there thinking and he's sort of like like I'm by the window and he's like blocking my exit. And I'd been attacked years earlier when I was in the Middle East. So I'm sort of, like, mindful of my safety at all times. So I'm sitting there thinking, OK, this gets hairy. Where am I gonna put my feet? Because if you're gonna kick someone in the head, you have to know that cause it's not much foot space between the benches. So I think if I'm with kick him in the head, I'll put my right foot there. I'll get him with the left to punch him in the guts, and I'll just run out. So I'm planning all this and I'm just like, don't make eye contact, don't talk to him. And he just starts striking up conversation. And he's, like, really desperate to strike up conversation. He's asking me all these and not like, you know, hey, what did you do? It's like, so are you religious? Like things like that, like, really intense and like. And then about 20 minutes in, he's like, I'm going home to Tunisia and my mother really wants me to get married. And I I've been in Italy for three years. I haven't managed to Will you marry? Me. It's like you have a job, you have a degree, you know you you. Don't know anything about. You you're not Muslim, but we can work on that. And I'm like oht and I just think he was like going home. He was gonna see his mom in like 5 hours and this was like his last chance And I'm like haha, you know you seem really nice, but I know. And it's like and then there's that thing. Then you've got to sit there for the next half hour of the journey and the same carriage because I don't want to pick up my suitcase and change garage again. And on the whole, I'd prefer, you know, the guy who's desperately in love with me at first sight to the the five smokers. So I'm I'm so awkward, so that that's my travel experience, the first time I ever got proposed to put a train. I mean, it's a pity. At the time you could have gone. Here's a concept for a TV show that will go gangbusters. Married at first. Sorry, you just randomised by the Italian train authorities who they said you next to the train OHP. That would be really. Really. Weird. You know though you weren't really his last hope, he still had the airline Hostess, the ticket check in, the luggage handler, they there was like another eight after he got off. Yeah, gets offer in Tunisia and he's like alright, taxi driver. Yeah, random people on the platform. Yeah. Anybody. Yeah. I didn't mean to make you feel unspecial. Oht well he gave me his address so I can write to in everything was like ohhhhh no. My life is authors. We often talk about the 62nd elevator pitch. Yeah, imagine interracial. They had this big room, these guys practising their little 62nd proposal pitch. Yeah, And then they get sent out to different countries and to try it on. Training, I'd like to think. He's doing a podcast. He's like Ohe 25 years ago I was on a train in Italy and. Ohi met my heart, this beautiful woman who broke. My heart. I've been following her career ever since. Oh no, that's that's kind of next level creepy. And on that creepy note, let's wrap up this episode of the podcast. It's been wonderful talking to you. Now a more if you wanna I'm pleasure. If you wanna find out more about what Nats up to, you can check out her webs website natamore.com. And Amore is spelt with 2O, so that's Nat amoo-re.com. That's my website. Yes, that's your website and Jacqueline is at Jackie Harvey, Dot. Comjacquelineharvey.com dot. AU and Tim. Tim Harris books dot. Com and I'm at raspread.com. Well, thank you very much for listening and until next time, goodbye. Goodbye.