The Public Nuisance Podcast

The Public Nuisance Podcast #052 THE BIG ONE with Rory’s Travel Club

• Sean McComb • Season 1 • Episode 52

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Welcome to a new episode of The Public Nuisance Podcast with me, Sean McComb.


This week we welcome Rory King to the podcast.


We cover £10 memberships turned global travel clubs, hotel hacks and off-peak savings, trusted agents and local partners, Irish language trips and ski charters, boxing rituals and recovery, community adventures, authentic stays over flashy ones, experiences over things, and big plans for a million members and beyond.


New episodes every Tuesday.


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Sean McComb

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Killen Studios

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That Prize Guy

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SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to this episode of the Public Nations Podcast brought to you from Killing Studios. Right here, where you can get all your content on photo shoots, video editing, podcasts, set up for you, you name it. We have it. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

Cheers, man. Thanks, man.

SPEAKER_03:

Thanks for coming up. And whenever you get lost on the way here to Ballyclare, or maybe just lost in terms of Fenton Studio in Ballyclare. But we're here.

SPEAKER_01:

We're here now. It's great to it's great to be here. So and thanks very much. I don't know if they have any fancy hotels here, but um I'd say there's a business opportunity there for someone listening if you've got a few quid.

SPEAKER_04:

Invest in money in abandoned buildings and turning into like a boutique.

SPEAKER_01:

I stopped in the spa, I didn't even think the spa was open.

SPEAKER_03:

But um I would have offered you one. Um apologies for that. Um we'll just have to deal with water for now, but yeah, it's uh it's the coffee's good and and the the people are nice, so here we are. No fair play. So hi hi how's life treating you just living the dream.

SPEAKER_01:

Um we're travelling quite a bit. Um so if anyone maybe listening or maybe has seen us online or maybe has never heard of us, we've now with 250,000 customers on the island of Ireland. There's one in 36 people in Ireland are signed up. Basically, they pay 12 euro about a tenner a year to us, and we get them discounts on holidays, which if they book one of them a year, their quids in, they're gonna save a lot more than the tenner. So we're at that, and it's and then we're also doing groups where we bring a load of randomers from all over Ireland on holiday together, and the crack bringing 30, 40, 50 people together, um it's arrive as strangers, go home as mates and everything else in between.

SPEAKER_03:

It's class that like it's like you've built a wee community within something that was like how how did that come about? Like the the the internal because it's it's like for me, I was like, that's you know what that's an amazing idea to bring a community like he has a f you have a full community of people. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's insane. Like so I said I basically had an idea, spent ten years actually travelling around the world, lived in New York, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Cypress. I was working for an Irish alcohol company, so studied sports science for four years, they finished unit, applied for a job to sell alcohol, and then ended up doing that for the best part of four years. So contradicted each other, but essentially, um essentially the big companies that we all use to book hotels, they're taking 15 to 25%. So I always use if I was sitting here looking to book the Europa the night in town, if it's 200 quid on these websites, the hotel's only getting 150, 160 quid. So I was like, surely there's a way that we can local people can book at that price, hotels making the same amount of money, and people from wherever they're from are saving. So that was the idea starting out, and then we started basically going into international holidays, and this it's evolved into something way bigger than I ever expected.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's it's class. My my wife actually done a week course on my intro things with um a friend of hers, Olivia, um Olivia Clark, and their she started, but she's she's no time, she's working two jobs, um, she's never really went into it too much. Um she just played a bit with it, but she's she has saved discounts on our holidays, on our own family holidays and stuff, which was really good for us and beneficial for us. Um but it's like it's it's the amount of people who reach out to her and are a bit skeptical and stuff, but I think like they don't really know what they're getting, and then they're asking for a ha a certain holiday, uh it's like, but I want to go here, and then she'll give all these recommendations, and it's like no, tough being here, I've been here, and it's just too much, so I was like, they're really just quit quit with her ahead because we're happy enough to save discount on our own holidays. You're working, she's a TV producer, she sings as well the weekends.

SPEAKER_01:

I was like, just well the thing is I suppose a lot of people don't realise what a travel agent, actually, we're not a travel agent, but the travel agents and most of them are typically good no matter where you're from, whether you're Belfast or whether you're from out the country somewhere, like your local travel agents are the knowledge they have, and a lot of people think travel agents are completely ripping ripping you off, where they genuinely aren't. Like they typically work on eight to twelve percent commission, probably say even say even a ten percent commission. And for them to give you all the answers to book your holiday, you can pay it off in instalments, the hassle. It's it's so worth it. Like um we work with Hayes here in Belfast, um, they have about 25 shops in Northern Ireland, but they're all good in terms of if you go into Nexa Club World, some of the others they're all pretty much will provide a good service.

SPEAKER_03:

It's mad that that non-mans have ever thought well maybe they have, but I don't know about it. But like created like a membership option like you've done. Yeah. And it's mad to think like it's that 'cause it's so accessible, eh? Like it's for for some of us, even now that I'm sitting here with you, it's something I've never ever ever thought of or consider of. And now I'm sitting going, that's so good. Like, why wouldn't you? It's almost like why would you not?

SPEAKER_01:

Well the thing is it's like people pay us basically£10 a year. And some of the stuff like we're working with, like we have a thing at the minute, the Grand Central in Belfast. You can book a Saturday night at 160 quid. And for people say coming up from wherever, Newry or Tyrone or whatever, so they pay 60 quid on a taxi on the way home and that's their their night. That's their Saturday night of the breakfast in the morning and five-star hotels. So we're we're doing kind of all the donkey work. We're basically and what we're doing is we're speaking to we're speaking to like hotels, travel agents, cruise companies, and we're saying, Look, we know you've got we know you've got availability. It's like you've different times of the year where they'll be sitting with 30, 40, 50 rooms, and we'll say, see when you have 50 rooms, give us a shout, and instead of selling them for 200, give them the other guys for 120 and we'll clean them out. Yeah. Then the customer's getting good value, they're getting someone in the door, and everyone wins. So but that's that's what we're at. Is it just you on your own, or do you have like a team around you? No, there's ten of us. Is there ten? Yeah, which is which is mad. Whenever I set this up, so I I set up a Facebook page to kind of test the water, so still still working full time, and that's probably anyone maybe starting a business. That's the recommend uh probably a lot of people do, the side hustle at the start, and then the whatever comes out. But I put a Facebook status up one day, so I just was kind of doing it for free, testing the water. We got a few thousand followers, and I put a status up saying, I'm thinking of going full time at this. Uh it's gonna charge£10 a year, and I'm gonna try and get you all the best discounts I can on holidays and hotels. What do you reckon? And I had about 40 people who were like, brilliant idea. So basically for 400 quid I quit my job and went all in. But best thing ever. And that was it. And I got I think I got the 400 quid off. So everyone says, like, where'd you get your first customer? I think I got 40 on the first night, and I just like, oh, I meant it here. This is brilliant. And um at that stage I had no idea. But what we've done is we just like anything, you just work hard, yeah, just want to keep improving every single day. And like it's it's nuts that we've got 10 people. Like, I never studied business, never planned on being a business owner. And I think that's probably why we're maybe doing well.

SPEAKER_03:

Is like I don't and a lot of people say to me, they're like, nothing feel it doesn't feel like a business, do you probably feel like a community and more like a help like you're helping people?

SPEAKER_01:

It feels like a big tech project or something where but everyone's winning. Like we've it's it's mad, like I'd say at this stage with 5,000 customers in every county in Ireland, uh, which is which is mad to me. 'Cause I set up just trying to save people a few quid on holidays and the amount of people that are I think that are benefiting, it's just that snowball effect where people they book hotel to save 50 quid. And I think what we're doing, it's one of the things that people want to go back and tell their mates or the mads that are on the sideline watching their kids play football, they're like they're like they want to be seen to be saying, Look, I went on the holiday, booked the Roy's Travel Club, I'd say I saved 50 quid or 100 quid. So it's that's that word of mouth, and it's it's happening all day every day. Um which and there was no massive like I never wrote a business plan. I've still haven't wrote a business plan.

SPEAKER_03:

I just it's almost as if like you're just winging it, it's working.

SPEAKER_01:

I say it, yeah. Well uh winging it, but I suppose it's like it's it's like almost like a devotion, if that's the word. Like I'm obsessed, like and I think to be the best at anything in life you have to. Yeah, of course. And it's it's always just trying to get better and better, but it's it's mad like even like we had a group of a hundred people do a walk on Sunday in Carlingford or just outside, somewhere in Love, anyway, the Boyne Valley Camino.

SPEAKER_03:

I must have just missed it. That wasn't Sunday.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh uh, but I I I didn't we me and the missus actually we we went to there's thing uh whale lights just beside Fitzb, not far from Fitzpatrick's. Um both actually really good. I don't know if it's come out this side of Christmas or not, but in terms of if it is that Fitzpatrick's actually it's only Halloween, the Skurfest. Yeah. But the Whale Lights down in Carlingford, it's we've like two and a half thousand tickets sold to our customers. But that that Fitzpatrick's I keep I've been talking about speaking, you probably know is it Patty uh Cunningham. I've been on.

SPEAKER_03:

He was down at I think he's a good fella.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh but I've been on to him a bit, and um I keep I'm hearing like I'll everyone's loving it, but I'm hearing people come back and saying the kids can't fucking sleep at night after. Like I think it's it's almost too scary.

SPEAKER_03:

He's four, like he loved it going around the thing, and there's all screeners, people there's actors and stuff, and it's scary, it's a bit jump weight for the kids. We came out and we were standing just outside, and and my wife sitting around painting like a rock shore, and my chair's just sitting on the eat batch outside. The atmosphere's brilliant, everybody's loving life. And the next thing this guy comes across with chainsaw, and he just goes, Oh shit.

SPEAKER_04:

I see the fear in his face, and he just goes, Oh shit. And whack right into the restaurant.

SPEAKER_03:

I was like, Your mother's on the room with Ginzo full for him. And fairness, even straight home when he went to bed, he sat and I hadn't heard a word about it again in terms of like oh I'm having nightmares or nothing, but happy days. I think maybe but that means it'll be over. Like if maybe if it's maybe eight year olds, nine years old, ten years would be okay with something like that. That's it. Maybe, or maybe he's just too young and doesn't realise.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh but I I think uh you're doing a good job. The whole idea is to scare people like so you're doing a good job after coming back.

SPEAKER_03:

But I like I would highly recommend it. Like it was like the food's great, you know, the atmosphere was great.

SPEAKER_01:

We went um my cousin actually got married there over New Year's, and she had day two in Fitzpatrick's actually. It's it's a great it is a great spot to be. She got married in Bally McScan, actually next door. It's lovely. So anyone looking wedding venues, check they check it out. And day two as well, Fitzpatrick's, there's a bit of a shout-out.

SPEAKER_03:

So that's something you give maybe advanced venue. You start taking wadding bookings and giving the discount in speak uh wadding venues.

SPEAKER_01:

See the thing is hotels don't know and actually we we know that we all know it, like the hotels do they put the price up on wedding nights because they know they're gonna they know they're gonna get they know they're gonna get heads and beds, they can they kind of bank on it, so they're not gonna give us discounts when they don't have to.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, of course. I suppose like when you're paying for dinner or stuff like if you ever get the same dinner just on any given day, it'd probably cost you 50 quid, but when it's a wedding, it's 140. I know that's it's sickening a bit.

SPEAKER_01:

Break your heart. But uh there is a place actually in Newcastle. We've done a bit of work with the hotel they have now, the voca. Don't know if you came across it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, the voca, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It was only up near O'Hare, near Donner Park. Yep, right there. And they I think they were the only one-star hotel in Ireland. Apparently you had the share bathrooms and everything. And their man bought it, man, bought it over who owned O'Hare's about four or five years ago, and it's unbelievable. Now, it's one of the best Dick Batik hotels. Really, really, really nice. Um, but he used to do an O'Hare's a thousand pound weddings for a hundred guests. Serious? And maybe and then it went up to maybe fifteen hundred or two grand, but really he was banking that was always off peak midweek. Yeah, for twenty quid ahead, he was feeding people, and then sure you're a hundred people in drinking on a Tuesday. You're laughing like I think that's the way to do it.

SPEAKER_03:

You have to you have to play the game, like, especially when as you said before, when some are sitting empty, empty, why not use it? At a cheaper options, you know, it doesn't mean I've been thinking about this.

SPEAKER_01:

Obviously, I do my thing, uh stay in my lane, whatever. I I I always think, see coffee shops that open to five o'clock, surely there's something you can be doing between five and ten. And I always think I always it kind of gets me excited. I'm like, I'd love to just use that.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't even know what you would do with I suppose after five or three, even three, people don't suggest taking coffee at this three, but I drove by a vocal on Anderson's Town Road. It was um my wife was in front of me, she was coming home from work, and I was coming home from picking the child up, and she was in front of me as I was speaking to her on the phone in Bluetooth, and she was like, Whoa, fucking a vocal close or a vocal's uh a vocal cafe's just so busy. And I drove by and no hard nose in it. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_01:

What's going on in there?

SPEAKER_03:

I know everyone's off for Halloween, but I was like, it's half here at night, the place was packed. Absolutely. So like I'm sure like people still want to hang out and do stuff, you know where else is the same mods on the Lisbon Road. I know it's an ice cream shop, but it's also sell coffee.

SPEAKER_01:

So like if you say if someone's I've seen that see the like say like I'm from Down Patrick, but I live on the Ormo Road, and um see that nougalado that they've loaded, but they started off in Newcastle, like reinhaler snow people are you know for ice cream just because there's nothing else to do.

SPEAKER_03:

I couldn't think anything where's every small home and get them. Maybe it's just me getting older, but I'm just like, oh I can't there's so much kids in uniforms and all just hanging around like sacking.

SPEAKER_01:

I took a pit we were in Dublin a couple of weeks ago, and there's Dingle ice creams famous in the south, and the queue, like I mean, it was laying down in the rock, off all the tourists queuing up outside.

SPEAKER_03:

I was thinking, Dingle's a great little spot too. I have where would you say is your favourite county?

SPEAKER_01:

Favourite Donegal. Uh I think I like in around see Guidor and around the Gill Talk. Um there's a hotel called Ant Court. It's not it's not the fanciest hotel and it's usually only about a hundred quid, 120 quid a night. Right at the bottom. If anyone's into hiking, it's right at the bottom of Mount Errigo and it's just real homely with a swimming pool. And obviously if you're into walking or hiking, um and I I I that'd be one of my like one of my recommendations that we like we work with about 250 hotels and everything's personal preference, like in terms of I personally don't like see like like obviously I can appreciate five star and fancy stuff like but see something a lot of time I just think it's too too much.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, authentic. You want something that's like authentic Irish or authentic, you know, like cultural, like almost as that feeling of being in Ireland, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I like like like even we go out for food, like see small plates. I I'd rather just a big plate of spuds, make or something.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's that's exactly it. I that's when we were going to Fitzpatrick, we were all looking for a carver, just get a load of potatoes and all of these, and no pot meat just throwing on there just an old dinner goes. See, going up my house, we like even still now, my man and dad, we're all grown up now and moved out, but they make an almost make a potato dinner nearly every night. Uh uh. Like one there it's like potatoes and like mice roasties and maybe pork steaks, and then next night it'll be mice, mints, fucking all that.

SPEAKER_01:

That's I I think that's the same as most houses growing up. But uh what would you like if it was a hotel, if you could pick a hotel in Ireland to go to anywhere spring to mind, you like? Um pick the most expensive one here, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

No, like we all like I think it's just a thing we we go to Galgorm quite a lot because firstly we always end up getting both vouchers for the to go to Galgorm. Like we had a thousand pound wedding voucher for the Galgorm off a friend and we still haven't used it. We've only I know we've only used it once and we've only spent£220 off the voucher for one night. We like in there and just like chilling out and having all the different, you know, different orange and go around and sit in different jacuzzi and having that freedom of space, and then we just go up to our room and just get like a pizza and bring out the room from having either them. Do we just like having that wee bit of time ourselves? Like we do it maybe once a year, and it's it's nice, but what happens is it's overcrowded, and it's starting to get overcrowded, and I I think at the very start people were like, I'm not paying 400 quid for it. Uh and then either they're starting to go fuck it up. People have too much money these days.

SPEAKER_01:

But a lot of people just want to be seen on Instagram, they're gonna be a managor and like it's like who cares? Like we I like Slave Donner. Have you been down there?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, Sleeve Donner's lovely as well. My friend, a good friend, and I got married in Sleeve Donner. We stayed down for two nights, it was brilliant. I like that. And then I got married in Anniskillen, actually, uh which was lovely. Um haven't been down really much for I think I've never been down once. I have to I go to Amsterdam every week. So I have to go to Amsterdam here again on Monday and I was just on looking and I was trying to find the name of a one of the places there before. So it was one of the old bookings and the manor house popped up. I said, fuck that was I or forgot the book there for me a while ago.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's uh I'm a massive um Ipswich Town fan. Oh at the university in Ipswich, lived there for four years and McKenna's Kieran McKenna, it's his family owned the manor house, and we do an awful lot of work with him. But the last three or four times I've been over, I've got in. So Kieran, obviously he's the manager of Ipswich Town, so yeah, I've got into the box. I was over Ipswich played Norse about two or three weeks ago.

SPEAKER_03:

That's unbelievable. And actually, I'd said to you you've been a supporter, that's classic.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and his his brother, me, me and the brother went to so I get over actually. I flew over that morning, went met the brother at nine o'clock in the morning. He's a teacher, went for two or three pints breakfast and buzzing all the fans going nuts, and then we went into the box and it was uh Karen's wife and children, so we had to quickly had to shut up.

SPEAKER_03:

I had to bring it down and that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But it was the look of like very, very lucky that we we worked for the hotel for two years before I even had realized that there were there was that connection. Yeah and then now now because we bring them a lot of business, and I think I think we all get on like and if they can if they relationships like that, or you know, it's something I want to end things, I but some people just bond and they're like you have that bond, and then even more so with the If Switch turn thing.

SPEAKER_03:

That's that's like that's so lucky. It's mod, isn't it? It's like what's the chances?

SPEAKER_01:

I know I was sitting I didn't I was having a meeting with them Monday and I seen the weight child come in in an ipswitch tab, I was thinking, hold on a second. This is a second. And I was like, What's going on here? And then they said uh the child's uncle was the manager and I goes, geez, I wouldn't have put wouldn't have put two and two.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's class, but like we we we love going down the west coast. That's where we we we try and do Easter every year along the West Coast. Well like this year we're maybe thinking we're going to Dani Gaul for Easter. Um but we done Dingle last year, the year before we've done Westport, we'll do Galway.

SPEAKER_01:

Have you been over to the Darren Islands?

SPEAKER_03:

No, I haven't.

SPEAKER_01:

That's where you need to go. Proper off the beaten track, but it's it's amazing.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I we we actually launched this week. Uh so we basically, whatever our c it's pretty easy in time in terms of what we do. We do work hard, like, but we just listen to what our customers want and then we go and do it. So a lot of our customers say is any chance you could a lot of them are like, we want to learn Irish, we're getting a bit older, we want to learn Irish. Any chance you can organise like um like a guild talk for adults.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So I I I organized it. It was actually on rail the price. It was 500 quid for four nights BB in the Iron Islands and the Irish classes, and it sold out 70 rooms of it, booked the full hotel, but we've now launched a second date for beginners, and then we've launched actually we're doing a date for people that are fluent in Irish that they can go and meet people from all over Ireland and fucking top Irish back up again.

SPEAKER_03:

I lost it. I've been fluent, like, but my wife's fluent as well. She works in Irish every day, she's a TV producer, Asky Algalik, so she still speaks it every day. But I've left school from let's say twelve years ago I've left school. I lost a lot of it, but then the BBC uh it was a date with Paper Earl, she done a documentary on me, my wife. That's how we met it. But she they were doing a documentary on me and Patty Barnes and me teaching a marriage, and then it sort of came back to me and then I met Dervlin and then we've obviously were married and all now, we've got a a son, but he goes to Irish school now, so I I can speak it a lot better than what I could before I met her. But I'm still I always still get annoyed that I'm not as freely spoken as as she is. Now if she spoke to me all day and I should understand every single word she said. But when I go to set myself sometimes in conversation, I'll just yeah, I just it's just sketchy. I'm a bit like uh uh and then someone will crack me and go, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

What do you go class to first of it?

SPEAKER_03:

I went to Ponsco Give and I went to class of first instead there right up till like eight levels.

SPEAKER_01:

And is the demand in the West for Irish speaking schools getting higher and higher, is it?

SPEAKER_03:

See, for me to get my son into primary school. Now there's there's there's like there's loads of primary schools now, but class of first is the only secondary school.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh there's one in East Belfast. There's uh an Irish speaking one in East Belfast. I played a couple of matches with him. Not good.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I think at one stage um I mean I'm not good there.

SPEAKER_01:

They're a good club, but I'm I I haven't played football in years, like, and I I don't have the time to dedicate, so I'll go out to the odd time. Well the last match I played was against the PSNI.

SPEAKER_03:

Was it East Belfast against the PSNI in a Gaelic match? The word moving on, that's great. It's great to see. Um but yeah, it's like the demand now I'm starting to see more and more people. Do you know what? See when I was growing up, I didn't you know I didn't really appreciate my Irish until I got into like later on in secondary school where like maybe four, fifth, sixth, like upper sixth four, I started to go, you know what? It started to become cool. And I just thought this isn't cool. See, now even like well when Nick had come again. They all went they Nisha went to school with me, they're young, a bit slightly younger than me, but what are playing my GA teams and stuff in school and I know them well, but because they're coming through and they're doing so well, they're like it actually's like the new cool.

SPEAKER_01:

I I went uh I went to see them actually and the SSE. Yeah, so I was off 23rd of December. That was it. There was actually actually John, you probably know John Gardy, the singer. He came on to me that day just saying that he'd pumped in the one of them in town and he's he obviously knows them, uh or knows one of them anyway. And he goes, Oh, he's whoever he's said, he goes, I've a couple of tickets there uh for the guest list. We went up anyway to the box, yeah, and um your man actually didn't even put us on the guest list, and the woman said, Your woman said, Oh, he's done this to so many people, but your woman was blocked that day, because they love the garment. But their the show they put on was incredible. I I even went to see him at EP. I don't know if you ever been to Electric Picnic.

SPEAKER_03:

Never vain. Oh it's bizarre.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, see, like I've been to Electric Picnic the last three or four years, and for me, like kneecap were amazing because people were jumping up and down, people are loving it. A lot of them see, like gonna see David Grey or whatever, you're just it's a snooze fest.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, something nodding your hand, like singing away, sing along here and there.

SPEAKER_01:

I find that with maybe a lot of music. Even we go to the odd concert and like we live in the Orma Road, sometimes there's stuff there, being the stuff in Bouts Road, and a lot of them you're just standing there and you're just slow, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03:

It's you you want you want something.

SPEAKER_01:

I want something maybe we can jump around and like you know. But they they put on some show at Electric Picnic. Um we there's a thing, the Strad Ballet, and I'll never forget it. There's a wee there's a wee kind of like Irish bar uh where they just play like just trad music and people singing killer all day, basically. And that's we we spent four days in there and I went to see kneecap and happy out.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh no, they're they're they're doing very well, they're flat and nothing and like even like I just think the controversial thing that they do is like it's it's benefiting them so much.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like it's but I think like I say I was lucky I got to spend the best part of ten years abroad, lived in all these amazing cities, but the amount of talent here in Northern Ireland in the north of Ireland or whatever you want to call it, and it's it's insane. Like, and I I feel like the people at the top, the people that are doing the best, like in terms of politics isn't even a thing. It's it's we want the like people just want to better themselves, it doesn't matter. And people are very supportive no matter whether you're in music, sport, entertainment. And I think everyone just wants to see local people do well. And I think like I think from from my from what I see moving home is the people kind of 40 and under have really just they've kind of moved on, which is good to see.

SPEAKER_03:

What happens is I think personally what I think is like the belief is here now where I think we didn't really have the belief because of opportunity. Um we like we've no TV really, you know like even in the south they've got the RT, they've got like we we still I we're relying on across. We're relying on the on the mainland in England. Yeah to their TV, where is like where's the opportunity coming? Where are we getting that opportunity uh as a whole of Ireland, or is it even if people want to call it Northern Ireland? Yeah, Northern Ireland don't have their own broadcasting, you know, and they should do if they're if they're gonna be you know, or it should be Ireland, but for us to get access to be like on main like mainland TV or like to be opportunities like 'cause I say I was saying this to Carl Fram last week, it's the same with boxing. Yeah, they the English promoters, we rely on the English promoters to promote us, but they don't want to because they for him to put a show on Belfast, even though they still do once or twice a year, every year, it's only because we're so good they have to. But if we lived over there, it would be just we would be sh we would all wake everywhere and be on as often as we want. Um but they have to drag their broadcasters right over here and get flights over and bring all the equipment over and build stages here and then take it all down and flat all back costs actually.

SPEAKER_01:

And they're massive teams, probably do they?

SPEAKER_03:

But if they were in just in the mainland and we were all there, it would just but the act like you know, I think now we're just people are starting to see belief and people doing stuff are going like we can actually do this.

SPEAKER_01:

But I think like even in the even in the like I'm not a massive boxing fan, but anyone from here, no matter who they are, you want them to do well. Oh, of course. And that's in that's across all sport, well like in anyone no matter what they're doing, which is it's probably the way it's the way to be. Like, I don't think there's any chip on the shoulder.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh I think a support it should be like across the board. I think how sad is it that you don't want anyone to succeed from where you come from. Uh it's no matter what background you have, you know, it's like why not? Like what like it's it's it's it it improves it improves our status as a as a country, it improves us as a as a as a nation, it brings in tourism, it you know it's uh just grows. Everyone wins, yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01:

But I as I said you're fighting there how long ago what you know exactly how long ago was it? Before we co- and I was I was I say I'm not a massive boxing fan, but we were we were in Newcastle for the night and we're in a wee bar, the Donhard bar on the main street, and they had your fight on, and there was um a guy singing in the corner. But every single person was watching the fight. The singer they were wasting their time paying that last thing. And there was and there's boys from we we happen to be sitting beside two boys from wherever they were from in Belfast, and they were mad.

SPEAKER_03:

I'd say they were in the caravan, but they cracked into them and they were they were they were basically clapping every punch and shouting at the TV and they were saying the guy that's classic, I feel it, because you know, as I as you were saying, I walk when I go into city centre, I bump into people from all over Belfast, you know, people from Shankill, people and I can't afford them, they're having a laugh and they know such and such. Yeah and you immediately know where they're from and they say, you know, this and I go, yes, yes, and it's all it's all good, it's it's it the supports brilliant no matter what, and it's feel like it's a breath of fresh air, you know what I mean, for Belfast.

SPEAKER_01:

But but I think in and I think that's probably as a nation um across the board, maybe it's just people nowadays. I think people are people aren't quick to say well done, or people aren't quick to and like I I think people are quick to criticize, whereas like if you and I like anyone. And if there's someone you like, whether it's a fucking comedian or whether it's whoever it is, tell them they're doing a good job. Because you like I know for me, like if people come out of their way and send you a nice message, it actually does mean the world of good, like uh definitely does. It goes a long way, like whereas people like people maybe are people just expect you to do well and they wouldn't say well done, whereas a well done does sometimes mean a lot.

SPEAKER_03:

Because as you say, if it's expectation to do well, it's like sure he's he was supposed to anyway. Obviously, yeah, obviously. Yeah, and that's it's not like you had to count the wee wins. But for other people to recognise it and be like, well done, I like well done on that. Like last night in my gym, all the gym members uh uh for my fate, they got me like uh blooms saying congratulations on your win and a box of cupcakes in a week, a big car with all photos of my fight and all that. My fate was three or four weeks ago, but there were a few members kept asking me when do you bring their belt in? When are you bringing their belt in? Uh huh. And I was like, Oh, you know, I'm just that easy going. And I was wondering why. And then last night when I went into the gym and there were like, what's this going on here? And then my wife was like, Oh, and then I opened the car, and I was like, Well, that's something that's taking back, and I was like, they're such good people to do that, they didn't have to do that, like you know, but it as you say it's it's a good feeling to like to to see the people recognize that you're doing well, and and that's it.

SPEAKER_01:

Like I there's a quote there, someone says, um they basically say maybe different business and sport, people say like why you why are you working so hard, why are you working so hard now? Whenever you whenever you finally make it decides to go, ah you got lucky. So so they're like, Oh, you're stupid, you're stupid, you're stupid, and then they're like, Oh you're lucky just because yeah, but like we're I have six years into what I do now. Like and people are like people people maybe think we've only started two months ago and we've just grew this massive building. The thing is, everything's subjective. Like I whenever I started this here, I would have been like, Oh, see if we like at the start I didn't know if I could pay myself, so I I would have said, Look, if I can do X amount in a year, that's unbelievable. Happy days, I'm doing what I love. Now we're doing a lot more, and it's like this is crap, I want even more.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you're pushing for more. It's that's it's isn't it when someone's destined for goodness or like for greatness, as I say, it's very hard to be satisfied. Yeah, but I but I obviously you are obviously you are, and you obviously you're you're satisfied. If you like if you're if everything was a stop now and you look back, you would go, you know what, I'm proud of what I've achieved, and you've done an amazing job, and more so the community you've created. I think that's something special, like this to have that within your own travel page, to have so much str strangers to go and do so much together and create, they're probably looking at you going, like, Imagine that one friend we had never met each other.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh well that's and that's it. There's a lot of even couples and stuff, like they've met on trips where they have two people from wherever, someone from Belfast, someone from Dublin, they go away on holiday, they like each other, and then next thing there's a baby three years later.

SPEAKER_04:

And like you'll be very smart.

SPEAKER_01:

That's uh that's the kind of stuff is happening now. Like, and it's it's great to see like we do, we did a we had we had a chartered flight for our customers last year to go skiing. 180 people did first day with the County Colours Day, so everyone wore wherever they're from. And that was just the best icebreaker because everyone had a bit of crack wet and a bit of slagging, and then and then this year with two chartered flights, so we have 350 people from all over Ireland going skiing together. And have you been skiing?

SPEAKER_03:

Never, but uh like I'm already sold anyway, so I'm signing up. Oh, at me and the way I'm doing getting on. Um because they're they're all things that that near enough make your mind up for you. And you know, like we'd ever see me and my we would have this conversation. What about going here? What about doing this? Well, do you see here? Where like within that community page, you have it near enough. Like you say, hey, you give the people what they want. And then that would near enough make my mind up for me. So we'll just do yes.

SPEAKER_01:

But there's any amount, like even some example, even in Belfast, we started doing we noticed that some people may couldn't get away or they've a holiday booked, so we started doing discounts on attractions. So if you book out an attraction on like one of these get your guides or whatever, they're taking 20%. So we basically went to the people that were doing them saying, give our guys 20% off, we'll send you some local people. Have you seen that? I actually haven't been this for. We're gonna go as a team building. Prison island down the voucher road.

SPEAKER_03:

I've seen it, I've seen an advertisement, haven't I? It looks curious, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

Because it's like it's it seems like I think there's like 25 of them escape rooms or 30 of them and end of axe throwing and that, but I I wouldn't even know about that. And I live in Belfast, so we're so we're basically showing people like we work with we work with McConnell's distillery. We went there two weeks ago up at Crumden Road jail. Yeah. It's cla like it's it's there as well.

SPEAKER_03:

Last week I've done like a t a that scour fest up there as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh did they? You're loving Halloween.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm in I I usually hear Halloween. Um but I'm I'm in the sport this year, and I think this is the first year I'm gonna dress up in probably ten years.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you know what you need to get up there if you do have time is Derry.

SPEAKER_03:

That's uh I heard that's the capital of life.

SPEAKER_01:

But I think the I think I think they really go all out for it. Uh I've I've never I've never been up there for a Halloween.

SPEAKER_03:

I've actually never been on a night out in Derry, but it I hear it's I've only been one once for a night out and I have loads of friends up in Derry. And um like my my my man dad will go up and and once a year like and do a weekend up there on the drink and have a laugh and they love it. I don't understand why I haven't. Like once I've done it once where all my mates you're in lockdown and you weren't allowed to drink indoors unless you ordered food.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh we just did a bar call or check them ring like fuck. It was just the most saddest thing ever.

SPEAKER_01:

Like I laugh at me, that though. We we were talking this here last week. Um there's one there's people what they were doing because all the bars were shut. They were actually booking a flight, going to Belfast International, drinking all day and missing the flight on purpose so they could go to a bar. And drink paints, that's stupid.

SPEAKER_03:

It's actually a good idea though.

SPEAKER_01:

And miss if and 'cause there was no paints.

SPEAKER_03:

Everyone like I've said this before, but you like you probably wouldn't have heard it. During lockdown, I I my my little pub, I went and bought um kegs off him and I ran I had a you know I had a gas and put I had a like you know I just brought it out, like drilled it into a table like that, and just had a beer pump and gas and all in a cooler box and all the rest of it, and played street bingo, but no one could get pence, so we there was a massive queue, right? My man dad lived in the week called a sec. So we just had I went around the door with bingo books and says we want to do bingo's like in May during lockdown. It was a nice day, so I went around and got all the bingo books sold. It's like I'll call the numbers, we'll all have a bit of crack and have a drink. And I was like, Look, I'll put the the beer kegs on. I've paid them, just everyone give me 150 for a pent. Every pent will cover another keg and we'll do this once a week.

SPEAKER_01:

Just keep keep the community.

SPEAKER_03:

Fuck see the second week. You want to see the cue there was a there's a massive cue there's people coming around from like around the corner with their own glass, going, Can I get one? Can I get one? The maybe, but they used to tell bingo down there as well. Bruce's bingo online with Facebook and they fucking but yeah, it was probably Dev's flats or something like that as well. But that's what I I sort of took the eggs I seen on Facebook, yeah. And I just fuck me, the people were hewing up my street for for pints of beer, and I was like, Why is it and like you can't get a paint and I wear all the border closes, bottles are to my head?

SPEAKER_01:

But you need it, you need it, but I think I was a straight strange, weird time, Nick. You're probably you still training flat out.

SPEAKER_03:

Still training, but there was one stage I caught myself on, I was drinking like fuck. I was drinking, and then it was like heavy, probably the heavyest I've ever been. It was like 74 kilos, and I was looking at myself in the mirror, going, What the fuck? I remember I sat down on the setting bed one day as I got in the shirt, I put my socks on and looked in the mirror. I had a big mirror in the house, and I looked and I was like ripples. We like ripples on the sediment bed. I went, what the fuck? Like I was getting ready to go on the drink, and I went, I'm not even drinking. Fuck, I didn't get up next day and started rumming and then I started running 10Ks flat out.

SPEAKER_01:

And are you wearing yourself every day as a boxer?

SPEAKER_03:

Or at that time I wasn't.

SPEAKER_01:

But would you be now?

SPEAKER_03:

But I do I do now when I have a fight, like I have a fight coming up obviously in six weeks' time, so um I'm staying on top of it daily. It's good to it's good to know where you're at in terms of fluctuation as well, because you can eat so many carbs and drink so much water, next thing your what your weight fluctuates, then you can panic. But if I was just a CR on any given day I would think, shit, that's my weight consistently.

SPEAKER_01:

And Drake, I see a lot of people online that say go for a dump in the morning before you jump on the scales and you're three or four pounds later.

SPEAKER_03:

It's easier to say when you're gonna happen. Because you're severely dehydrated and you've l for me, I'll tell you about my fight weeks like, right? So on the I say let's say I I fight on a Saturday, I'll weigh in on a Friday, okay? So Monday, Monday morning before the fight, I'll stop eating carbohydrates. Um which means if it's getting out the window, everything out of the window, like no energy, your energy levels just drop down. Um plus for every gram of carbs that you eat that holds on to three grams of water. So then you start to dehydrate because you're bringing all the water out of your system over time. So all I'll eat is like high fats and high protein mate, meat, basically. Go into no salt, no sugar Tuesday. But the water intake decreases so it just goes down, and then before and you're doing sweat sizing something, so you've worn like a sweatsuit, you're doing like two or three kilos a season, and then you're taking a wee couple of sips of water and the bed back up the next day, and like eggs, just paint eggs for breakfast, lunchtime be like a chicken thing, and then dinner will just be a steak. Uh uh, no seasoning of them and a wee bit of cheese, and then you'd go and do another sweat sizing, maybe at least two or three kilos. I don't know. Drinking a little wee bit of water. You're getting the beds, you're severely dehydrated, bone dry. So, like then because you cut out fabre as well, fabre and carbohydrates and water, they're the three things you cut out fit week. So for anyone to do a dump on the day on the table, fuck me. God knows what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04:

It's a ghosty. Uh shade. You do a shade, and I'm coming, you're like, What a go, just scoot the way on the toilet or something.

SPEAKER_01:

And how many how many kilos would would like to harvest it? Maybe not yourself specific, but how many kilos would you be traveling?

SPEAKER_03:

In a week, Monday to Friday. Uh uh. I would do five. Most some people water loading will do sad and rate, a stone. Like, and people do more, not people like EFC and MA fiddles do ten, ten kilos, like some and twenty pounds like in a week.

SPEAKER_01:

And everyone, every, they're all doing it. Like would no one be just standing staying consistent right up until the way in. That's probably not the smartest way of doing it, is it?

SPEAKER_03:

The way it works is uh that's that's the science behind it. You know, what's the science that people are following? And I think anyone at the top level won't be sitting consistently on the way, like no wags, you're just giving away too much size, too much, you know, strength. And you know, it doesn't yeah. No, it doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's is that weak is that I say after a fight, where is your where are you going for a munch or where's the you know what?

SPEAKER_03:

I I I love an Indian. I just love spicy Indian. I love spicy grub. I'm a I'm a I'm a sucker for Indian and New Delhi especially and Belfast my favourite because they do the masala chips and all that's just oh it's happening there.

SPEAKER_01:

There's a there's an Indian actually, quite quite random. Anyone destined that how and by the way, if you don't like it, don't come back and give me a views. There's there's an Indian in Lisbon. Um I think they actually have one up by the airport as well. Space. Space.

SPEAKER_03:

Atlanta, but the ones in space they new tally are the same owners, you know. Oh, it's the same, isn't it? Yeah, the same, so it's like the same menu.

SPEAKER_01:

But the space is and all the lads actually they've like they're obviously Indian descent or whatever, but they've all like real strong Belfast accents I don't expect. But the food is absolutely I haven't been in them in a year, but I'm long overdue because it's it's one call, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Get one this, get one the wee. Next next thing you know if you get this crupper we put the cobra or are we Ms. Rass or something? What would you go for?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I would be playing plain enough um a karma. Not the most exciting papa doms, the nanbread seed, dipping that nanbread into the curry. But um I see I remember um you probably remember the interview with the the roars, the O'Donovan's there sitting on BBC on BBC with the pizzas. Oh that's him after a fight.

SPEAKER_03:

After because they burn they they do you do so much fucking carries on, it's just like you just wanna that's all you want. It's like you just want to eat so much.

SPEAKER_01:

But there wouldn't be like obviously in an arena, say you're fighting the SSE.

SPEAKER_03:

It's not as if you can go down to the stalls and be like Nick give me Do you know what happened in one of my fights in the SSE? So I was fighting, Terrell McCann was fighting, McConnell's fighting, and I don't know who else was fighting, but there was there was a good hit a good you know, a good strong card, and the guys from Smash Bros says we're gonna have you delivered all your food at 10 o'clock to the chip to the dressing room and I was like fuck happy days. So after my fight at like half nine, I went in and all the food was just getting delivered fresh, brilliant loads of burgers, loads of chips out, happy days. As soon as I got back to my changing room, I was called out by drug testers. I was like kicking a burger. So Tom McKenna, he had fought Lewis Cracker, he had just lost.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And I was like, fuck. So I was away with the drug testers for over an hour because I was getting stage for it. I couldn't piss. But I got flooded down on an advanced he took a piss like um and then I got back to the change room and the change room, the mixed fate was over, the main event was over at the stage, and I walked in and there wasn't a single car and said, There wasn't even a chip, there wasn't even anything anywhere. It was like just my boxing gear. Everyone had flare, probably just they're all probably in the town drinking. Yeah, fight. I was in the arena, like basically on my own. I was like, These dirty bastards, I'm starving. And especially sitting in there for an hour waiting to go to piss, and that's all I could think about was getting back to the burrow, get back and then get it.

SPEAKER_01:

I can you can imagine, especially after cutting all the food. Well, I suppose you're probably after you do your weighing, I assume you're munching them, you're able to eat as much as you want, are you?

SPEAKER_03:

Mainly like I carb load, I just eat carbs like pasta, loads of pasta, pizza, chips, just carb broad. I don't eat any meat.

SPEAKER_01:

But would you not dick so it's obviously like if I if I had a big feed in me, I'd be ready to go to bed.

SPEAKER_03:

You do be? You'd be upset because your stomach shrinks. So you eat you'd be mustard and you'd just be like, oh jeep, that's what I've done. But I've that's what I was saying. I I found out that for me, what works best for me isn't just not to eat meat. Because it just bloats you for too long and it's hard to break down and you're just like, oh if I eat just carbs and it's that's my energy source, I I recover much quicker and then I can eat more later on at night and I can just enjoy my food better.

SPEAKER_01:

Maybe you have, I don't know. Um have you have you fought there? Would you fight in soda?

SPEAKER_03:

I would love to. Um I was almost I was uh I was almost a meant to fight for world title and I fell through uh last year, last October. Um I was asked to fight in August on October last year. I was on my honeymoon and I was like, that's all the next shop in Italy, put all this um neck running game and out run on stuff, because it was like, it's in October, it's like nine weeks away. And then the next day I got a message from the manager saying Sean, they're not having it, the the the guy's not gonna fight on the card at all.

SPEAKER_01:

Surely is that where a lot of the opportunities and the money end up getting boxes?

SPEAKER_03:

There's an increase of money, like when you go to the when you go to the sodium, yeah, definitely a massive increase, I think. Promoters obviously want to pay you whatever they whatever they feel you're feasible. But with Surrey, they can almost do one or extra, you know, an extra on top of what you're already getting. It's it's classic. That's that's where you that's where you want to be at.

SPEAKER_01:

But as as you said earlier, like in terms of bringing fate to the Belfast, like even the whole local economy. But it probably only is maybe what are they doing, maybe twice three days.

SPEAKER_03:

They've done this crotter, then they've done the SSE with um Lewis Crotter. Um but no, so it's it's great, you know, it's fucking class to see people coming over for like the economy's booming. There was twenty thou eighteen thousand people in Windsor, you know. That's classic. It's fucking amazing. That's what that's what's all about. That's how they get to how people threatening you've kids, young kids. That's what I mean by that belief thing. Kids are saying Lewis Crotler fighting in front of you. Like Lewis Crockler trained the man club. He looked used to look up to me. And I'm looking up to him. Brilliant. That's great to say if he saw like obviously it's it's it's it's achievable. Yeah. He used to look up to me, and that's and he he openly says that. He says the most gifted, talented fellow I ever was, live, first time ever, was you. And I go and over and I'm looking at you and you're a world champion. You've got the opportunity, you talk with two hands, and now kids are looking at you who also train in Holy Trinity going, Fuck me, I can do that.

SPEAKER_01:

I excited seeing on your on your story last night, you're obviously doing what a bit of sparring. Yeah. And even just the the people standing looking over, it's great to see. And like for them, and I suppose to have people fighting, people doing anything at the top level from here, it inspires people to hit from here to think, I want to do that someday, I want to be there. And the fact that then and I suppose it's probably in the middle of it, no matter what we're doing in your career, obviously, I'm just in a business stick of it. Like a lot of people come to me and they say, Look, look, the fact you've gone and got X amount of customers, you've done this stick out of nowhere. They're like, I want to do that. And I think I think people it's good to have people, like it's good to have someone to like I look up to so many business owners from here. I'm sure you've looked up to people over the years too. And I think to have people winning at the top level, I and that's what I do.

SPEAKER_03:

I no, it's just that's just where you get your it's as I say, it's like inspiration from. It's like like it's whatever you see. Like when you see how people carry themselves, even it doesn't have to be, you know, as you say, like someone like but like it's something so simple it can work so well. Like you do something so simple it works so well. But like I believe Praise Guy, Paul Paul Hartman, he's part of my show, he's a fucking burning fella. And what he does is like so simple, but like so good. And I don't you don't need to go to people like that. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01:

But people do, like people like I I suppose I suppose I think the tide is changing that people want to see people win. Yeah. Whereas before there was and there still is the begrudgers, like we've I call the one percent club, I call them online. Uh and 90 95, 96, 97% of the people are positive and they want to see people do well and they do they do appreciate the work and the effort that goes in. Like I like I follow obviously the prize guy and a few of the others that are doing doing the competition and such a like thing is like for years we had the lottery over in the UK, which I didn't know any I don't know anyone that won it. Whereas that to have someone up the road maybe winning ten grand or twenty kids it's great to see.

SPEAKER_03:

It's gonna still change, it's still life-changing minds on people to do things that maybe you know, maybe get them their first house, maybe get them a deposit for their first house. You know, it's still life-changing that goes on with the you know.

SPEAKER_01:

And there's this, and you always think I've entered a few of them, and you think like I entered when a house in Armagh I I don't even want to live in Armah, but it's like 40 quid, right? And I was I was convinced I was moving to I'd know I was I was ready to go. And um but it's it's giving and it's it's it's kind of localized in the whole and the whole thing, and um a great they're a great brand, and uh what what as you say, what they're doing in terms of letting people like like people as you say, maybe spending a pound and winning a hundred grand. It's it whereas whereas before you spend a pound on the lottery and it goes to goes to someone in London. You're never getting it.

SPEAKER_03:

You're never getting it. There's no chances like fuck's sake. Is it just like you happen are you happy uh or are you?

SPEAKER_01:

So my goal we do is to get a million customers. When I get there, and I will get there, when I get there, it could be two million, or it might be God knows, you might be you might be happy enough. But we're launching into London, launching into Scotland. So I do believe obviously with 250,000 customers in Ireland, it's a tenth of the size of the UK or the mainland. Um so I do see a a massive opportunity, but I'm confident enough that if I don't get a million customers between Ireland and the UK, I can go into Canada, I can go into New Zealand, I can go into New York, wherever I have to go, I'll go. And I think to get a business, like for me, I'm I think I've bootstrapped the whole thing. No one's giving me a penny. Like I started with probably about a grand in my bank account, maybe even less. So, in terms of for me to go from a grand, maybe in my bank account start a business to a million customers, I think that's a story in itself. And and it's not even like for me, it's not it's got to the stage where it's never really been about the money. It's I want to provide a good service. I feel people are maybe getting a bit ripped off and about hotels and holidays, and if we can save people money, like for me, my goal is to visit every country in the world. Um I've been to about 70 or 80 countries. So a lot of people in business are like they're obviously money motivated, you kind of have to be to make money to even stay alive in the first place. But my goal is to get to every country in the world, which is which is pretty pretty big goal.

SPEAKER_03:

I think that's a goal for I think I would be uh like an unrealistic goal for a lot of people. Yeah, I would say a lot, I would like I would say it to my wife, like, imagine we went to every country in the world because we travel. I've been I've been about boxing, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, you know, all these crazy countries, Russia, Hungary, you know, Ukraine especially. But it I I've done that much travelling I I sometimes say or the other, like how good it would be to be in a record like to go to every country in the world. Because I say if I want a world title, we're going travelling down through um I want to do Shift Market right down, can we do them all right into Brazil and just take all that part of it off and then stuff like that? So it's I think like it would be an amazing it's an ambition to do that, obviously. I think for everyone to have that opportunity, but you literally have it in your like it's right there because it's what you do.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what I do, and a lot of like I'm force it. Like get I get invited to a lot of these places to check them out before. So a lot of stuff we want to check out before we send our customers there. Um and like I've in the last couple of months I've been Japan, Sri Lri Lanka, by the way, absolutely unbelievable. Um been to India, been to the street cricket on Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_03:

What is it? Street cricket.

SPEAKER_01:

The the the cricket they're mad for. The cricket, um I what do you call it? Uh we were in this wee town where the with the tsunami hit really bad, and it just happened to be somebody had built a wall like 50 years ago and it saved half the town. And there was X amount of people died, but it was the with the Tur guide telling us this story. But I was I was just video and they were playing cricket maybe about a half a mile overhead, a new iPhone thinking I was zooming in and the boy had hit a wicket tide and not a cricket fan. Like, but whenever I zoomed out, you've seen the whole it was one of the best videos I ever class. One of the best videos I ever took. But I was gonna say, I would see travelling to every country in the world. A lot of people don't realise. Like, say you're to put in put a sum on it. Obviously, some countries you're not able to maybe get to because of war and different things happening, unfortunately, and maybe that'll change, hopefully it will. But um, like if you were to say, say for example, you and the wife to visit every country in the world, how much per head do you reckon you'd be looking?

SPEAKER_03:

Per head, an hour talking, fuck me. You're talking you're talking thousands and things.

SPEAKER_01:

I'd I'd say about a hundred grand, just over a hundred grand between a hundred and a hundred and fifty grand a year. How many years you want to go for? But the h but the thing is if you're just to go and do every kind of quit your and like a lot of people here, a lot of people here, and I know like the well, of course, the goal is to buy a house, say buy a house at 300 grand. Like I know for me, like I rent a I rent down the normal road, I'm happy enough. That's it. But like in terms of um if I could buy a house for 300 grand or visit every country in the world. Every country in the world, all day long.

SPEAKER_03:

You're going to you're going to a grave of a fat story, telling an experience of life. You've literally done life. You've clocked it.

SPEAKER_01:

And when you put it that way, and like I would say you're between 100 and 150,000, you can visit every country in the world. Obviously, you're not going to be living it up luxury, but I think there's there's roughly there's about 195 countries, so you give yourself 800 quid. Some of the countries you'll just bob through in a couple of days, but in terms of it's just perspective, like, and for me, like I'm well on my way and probably probably about 40% of the way there, and I think luckily I get to do it as a job, but I think some people listening, like in terms of of course buying a house, financial our stability and family and everything is of course really important. But to some people out there, like I always say, saying you're 60 years of age, if you've no kids and you own a house, what's the point of taking what's what good is it to you? Whereas if you could if you could sell the house, don't know what to back and live in a hostel or something.

SPEAKER_04:

But if you could sell a house and go two man tat movie.

SPEAKER_01:

But in terms of uh there there is a boy actually from Bam Bridge. Actually, I followed him whenever I was in uni and stuff ten, ten, fifteen years ago. Boy called Johnny Ward. I follow him. Anyone looking look him up on Instagram and he's visited every country in the world, a boy from Bam Bridge. He lives in Thailand now, but unreal like in terms of the stories and to me it's it's it's like it's wow, it's like that wow factor when you're talking to someone and they're giving you all these experiences of life.

SPEAKER_03:

You're like, that's like they're so interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's and that's it. Like, and I I find going to going to random, like I'm sure even your boxing, you go into I'm sure you can think of say Kazakhstan, you think of some random fella and a chippy or something stupid. Like it's and it's all about the stories, and I think like life is short, like in terms of like online, I see a lot of people, look I I've I've been on both sides of it. I've yeah, I worked in Asda for six years, I own a business with ten employees, not a massive business, but granted, but I've been on both sides of it, and like in terms of a lot of people online are like, oh, everyone needs to start like everyone needs to start a business. And I'm like, see, see, to be honest, see in Belfast, if you're on 30 grand a year, it's a good salary. You don't really you get the clock off at five o'clock.

SPEAKER_03:

You're off your time.

SPEAKER_01:

And a lot of people, of course, it's good to push yourself, but people need to maybe some people should just appreciate and like uh 'cause I think the more what I've learned anyway is the more money you go chasing, the the kind of worse quality of life you're gonna have.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, because you're you're not you're not you're you're you're too busy chasing money, you're not appreciating what you actually have at the moment and what you're building what you what you got, you know. Like for me, I was saying this before as well. Like I already, like I don't want I want to be successful in boxing, but I'm very content with everything I have in life right now. Brilliant. Do you know what I mean? Like I'm very content. Um I don't care, I don't want to like what more do I want? And I I often say this with footballers and people here run multi, like a million a pound a week, like five hundred like millions a week. And I'm like, like some people run a million a week in Saudi Arabia. I'm like, What why would you leave English Premier League football to go and play in Saudi Arabia? What more do you want? Exactly. Working you buy like many more great, great, great, great, great grandchildren. Are you gonna miss you? You're never eating cars.

SPEAKER_02:

I go.

SPEAKER_03:

So I'm like, just be content with what you've got and I've got a house and I've got a car and I've got clothes and I go to work every day and I'm accountable because I had to go and coach people on the gym and I'm content.

SPEAKER_01:

Like I lived, I spent the I lived in Fiji for a year in the other end of the world. There was I didn't see a white person for about five months at one stage. Uh lived on an island, volunteered in a primary school, and see these people. Um the nicest, funniest, most charismatic, amazing people. There was no money or anything on the island. They they went fishing every morning. They what do you call it? Whoever whoever caught fish, they grew crops. Like it wasn't as if they were going and just feeding themselves or feeding the whole village. And it's I I went from living there to about a year later I lived in in New York. I set up Roy's Travel Club. I was sharing a room with three other people in Brooklyn and uh New York. I couldn't afford my own room, but I got an opportunity to go work there. I think I was maybe on two grand a month and rent was two grand for my own room. So I goes, you know what, I want to go live in New York for a few months, that sounds good. So I just made it made it work, made it happen. But I noticed the people in New York with all this money, they were a lot more miserable than the people in Fiji that had absolutely nothing. And I think like a lot of people and it goes like e even even like in my like I think maybe in Northern Ireland there is a lot of people it's a stat like a lot of people want to be seen to be driving the fancy cars and having what and having the fanciest stuff but in reality is like I I would always say treasure experience more than more than anything.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah I like I there's nothing I enjoy more than speaking to some of my life experience like if like if I if you went to a bar you ha like I know firsthand if you go into a bar on your own yeah you have it you have guaranteed to have someone that you can definitely speak to about something in that bar.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah if someone asks you something about something so it'll relate back to maybe where it happened or oh I was there I was there I thought like but I think is like I it sounds it sounds funny saying that loud look like I'd be confident I could talk to anyone about anything no matter and nothing really phases me. I think like it's I suppose in my line of work I've got to meet loads of cool people doing cool things but at the end of the day we're all people doesn't matter who you are what you do and the people that I've people that I've I've met people business owners that have sold for 50 million yeah and they're sounder than some people with 4,000 followers on Bebo. Yeah exactly and it's like just just be dead on is it's it should be like like don't be a dick is that the that's the number one it's a Belfast don't be a dick that's a bit proper Belfast.

SPEAKER_03:

Like just I think like when you have a dick when you when you carry yourself away it's just it goes a long way you know it goes a long way and even in business because you got people in business who are dicks too you know just have his fucking ego and stitch ego and don't be a dick.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh but I was gonna say in terms of like like in terms as much as I could talk to anybody anything see my like even though we work all a lot of hotels, cruise dick I'd never ask for any like even you're saying about going into a bar like I wouldn't see if I went into a bar not that I would like maybe I say I'm in London next week for work say going for dinner like I'd never encroach someone or say like I would never be the first to talk.

SPEAKER_03:

If someone talked to me I'd be a happy day just sit there for ten pince no bother but I would never I'd never go in I'd never really just like you start because I know I I'm like that as well I would never approach anyone I just feel like I I I wouldn't even know where to start but it's you know people are like that people just come and speak to people but for me I I almost think like people just want to come in if he's on his own he's probably on his own for you probably wants to sit in his own have a drink. And that's like the same as me I want to sit but if he engages in the conversation I'm gonna talk back and that's fair enough.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's it like we do probably about 10% of what we do is group trips so bringing people together and I think I think see if you're travelling a lot of the people are solo travellers so they want to go away but maybe they've no one to go with or their mates are married or whatever. So we've people from all over Ireland going on holiday together and probably it's dead on during the day but see see being on your own looking I've done a bit of solo travelling myself see being on your own in a bar having dinner at six or seven o'clock it's brutal you're just sitting there you're like you're like what do you do now? You're like what is it and you're you're like you're thinking you're like is everyone looking at me again who's this who's this loser sitting on his own loser sitting on his own but what we do we're what we're doing is we're basically bringing 40 people sitting at a big table drinks are flowing the crack is great then like from the outside it must be like a big corporation business all workers or like a an a a work night out or something or like a group friend or a family night in the middle of 20 minutes ago in the airport and and I think I think that's like I always bring it back to like experiences like and I think um I think that's probably the most important in my life anyway in terms of like I want the experience as many things meet as many people have it and to me like I'd go to the opening of an envelope if there's something if someone said to me Ray there's a podcast happening up in Ballicler but in terms of any like in terms of like I can't sit I can't sit still like just even and it's maybe just like what I'm doing in life like in terms of see you see the idea just sitting in which sounds like heaven to so many people my Rick and buttons everybody just wanna know what's going on with there on your like fourth foam wasn't for missing it you're that's like but it's good to get out and meet your mates and have a have a coffee or a paint or like like I'd be my my missus is from the south she's from leash and um say she's down home where ma herman dad for the weekend or even during the week like which she would be quite often she owns her own business too I'd be sitting in the armor row see the first text comes I ain't gone and almost tax herself in the article no problems of um but even like for us like just getting out and about meeting people and learning like like like I'm like I think I think and I I think by meeting people and bizarrely like in terms of the people I've met that have actually helped me the most in my business are people you just wouldn't expect like even like just even even maybe someone that's retired and like my my ma used to work in the school my dad's a builder like it's not to put and say I met like a dinner lady from Kavan and she'd she'd give me like her honest feedback. That's the kind of stuff that we that's what you need that's what you learn from as opposed to someone that's CEO of whatever it is that's that's um that won't tell you anything.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah so no it's good well listen we'll we'll roll up we're up here and I'll let you get on and but as I say fucking class having you in fair place. Trust me I'll be once a leave I'll get signed up and uh get you one step closer to that million.

SPEAKER_01:

Alright well what do you call it what I meant when I message whenever you'd said about coming on a message my mate he's out in Australia kill him. And he's I I text him saying geez you never believe who asked me and he goes I let's he's working on a building I listened to his podcast about two hours ago him rocking around Australia Kill him mate get the get uh get the word out there that that the podcast is is the best in the game and we're doing these live shows in Sydney yet we'll have you on the live show you can you can arrange the travel and you can come with sure and uh we'll get you on as one of the guests we're a legend fair play thanks for having me on