Technology
Global Shopping
Join hosts Tim and Aid as they dive into the world of camping gear, sharing their latest adventures and insights on new stoves. With humor and camaraderie, they explore the nuances of camping life, fr...
Global Shopping
Technology •
0:00 / 0:00
Interactive Transcript
Speaker A
Foreign of the casual camping podcast, your home for the best camping discussion both in and out of the field.
Speaker B
Here are your hosts, Tim and Aid. Hello and welcome back to another amazing episode with my brother Tim and me with a casual camping podcast. And we're here for another episode.
Speaker A
We are here, right, for your dirty little ear holes. It's here again. You can't get rid of us. We keep coming back. You all hate us so much, but we're like a really bad smell. We just keep hanging around. We are malingerers in every every way, aren't we, Ed?
Speaker B
Yeah, I mean, it's been said before. You still malingering? Yes, we are. We're like warmed up death.
Speaker A
Tepid. Tepid death. That's. That's. That's got to be like a rock album somewhere. Tepid death. Oh, God. Now as an intro.
Speaker B
Tepid Yorkshire.
Speaker A
Tepid tea. No, no, no, I've got. I've got me brew here. It's. It's piping hot Yorkshire tea.
Speaker B
It's got to be piping hot.
Speaker A
It does. And snack of the week is a KitKat. And now you all want the KitKat, don't you?
Speaker B
I could do with a Kit Kat, to be honest. Yeah, there's nothing worse. Those people, they should be given a place in hell that make a cup of tea from the hot tap.
Speaker A
Oh, what, that?
Speaker B
What? Have you not seen that?
Speaker A
Oh, my God. Are they using one of those kuka hot taps?
Speaker B
No, no, no.
Speaker A
One of those, like.
Speaker B
Oh, I'll just get the boiler to heat up the water a bit.
Speaker A
Yeah, no, it's just the hot tap.
Speaker B
Filthy.
Speaker A
That's a dirt. That's a. That's a dirty process, that is. That's.
Speaker B
Some people in America that say, well, isn't that just. Tea drinkers. Dirty protest. Brown water.
Speaker A
Oh, gosh, there's only one tea and it's York should see.
Speaker B
Well, yes, I. How you doing? You've had a cracking week, Tim.
Speaker A
Well, I'm full of cold, so apologize if there's the occasional sniff I don't manage to edit out. And. And if I start sneezing halfway through this, well, you know, you just have to go with the flow. But I have had a great week because I've had. I've had a new stove week. New stove week.
Speaker B
New bit of kit. New stove week doesn't come around that often.
Speaker A
No, not at all. Twice in my lifetime.
Speaker B
Wow.
Speaker A
And I'm old.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah. So tell us about it.
Speaker A
Oh, gosh. Well, it turned up. Well, they tried to deliver it twice. And I wasn't in. And it's one of those things. It's just like, what go. Have you got chest as well?
Speaker B
Yeah, I've been cleaning chimneys, Tim. Cleaning chimneys. I got the black lung.
Speaker A
I got the black lung. You literally are malingering.
Speaker B
Apologies for anybody that does have other black L. It was only a comedy moment.
Speaker A
You know? Is. Is black lung even a thing?
Speaker B
Well, it was with coal miners. I used to joke that my dad had the white lung because he was a baker.
Speaker A
Flower lung.
Speaker B
I got the flower lung at you.
Speaker A
Did he cough, like, disappear in a cloud of his own power?
Speaker B
Like, his magic power? Like, he throw, like, just balls onto the flipping. Look at you back. Oh, Del Sur.
Speaker A
Please say yes. B.
Speaker B
Is your dad too.
Speaker A
Okay. I saw him the other week. Saw him the other week. That's funny. That's funny. Black lung or white lung? Which one are you people? Which one are you? The stuff that we go on to. Yeah. So they tried to deliver it twice, and it's like, that's one of those really annoying things. And it had come from. Oh, gosh, was it UPS or something like that? But they. They tried to deliver it, and they. They'd put a note through the door really kindly with absolutely no details on tracking numbers or anything. It's like, well, I can't do anything with that. But eventually, on the third attempt, my neighbor was in, and they very kindly took it in. And I came home from work all excitedly because I had an email say it was delivered, and they. They'd saw me come on the drive, and they just opened the door and they went, it's here, but it's too heavy. I'm not moving it.
Speaker B
Not a backpacking one, then.
Speaker A
No, definitely not a backpacking stove. So. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker B
Don't you just hate it when. Yeah, I mean, when I make a major purchase, I'm, like, refreshing the tracking. Like, you're not a China yet. Come on. What's he doing at the airport for four days? What's going on? And I. I'm, like, literally, literally like that. So for somebody to wander up to my door and then take it away, I would hound that person.
Speaker A
What? This? Literally, I. I know where the. The. The. The. Like, the holding place is near here. But there was no way of me contacting them to say, I'm. I mean, deliver it on this day. But either way, I got it. I got it. And because we wanted to do, you know, an unboxing video, you can't imagine the. The. The. The pressure it put on me to not open this box. The second I had it, I had to literally wait two days.
Speaker B
Tim, Tim, you're like an Internet sensation. Do you not see what the all others do into it? And then he put it back and put a bit of tape over the thing. That's what I'd have done. Oh, isn't this incredible? Oh, this is the first time I'm seeing this box.
Speaker A
I like to be authenticated. I like to be authentic and. And be genuine. And that's why I thought I all had like a. You know, the tubes were all like.
Speaker B
And. And that. And that's why you're the better brother, Tim.
Speaker A
I did manage to. To withstand the pressure I was placing on myself. And it's two days later, did an unboxing video. And then it was about three days later I did the first burn. But what a stove. What a beautiful, beautiful piece of kit it is.
Speaker B
I have to say, I am very jealous from somebody that has also had a new stove this year.
Speaker A
I'm gonna say it' of year for you too.
Speaker B
Yeah. You know, so, you know, I've had one eight months now because I got it from a birthday and still love it. I just. Just the excitement of getting a new stove and it's what I love about camping stuff. There's always something out there to turn your head and just go, ooh, maybe it'll be better if I just have that. Maybe I'll be better. Maybe. And then, you know, 10 pints in. Yeah.
Speaker A
Oh.
Speaker B
I was 10 pints in going, oh, there's really something I should figure out as to why I'm not a better camper. All right. Yeah, that's it. I'm drinking too much.
Speaker A
Every time I go.
Speaker B
I'm a great camper. I'm a great camper. What am I saying?
Speaker A
You're an epic camper, Ed. You. You do it. You do it with proper style and panache.
Speaker B
Well, I. Yes, I. I have bought those perfumes.
Speaker A
Yeah. And panache. Panache by aid.
Speaker B
Smells a bit of woodland and dirty underwear.
Speaker A
Oh.
Speaker B
Oh, I said it before you said it.
Speaker A
Oh, man, you can taste that. Yeah.
Speaker B
You imagine marketing it and it'd be like, you know, and it could keep you alive for three days. You might not like the taste. It smarts a little bit.
Speaker A
And can act as bear repellent. Yes.
Speaker B
I'm sort of imagining. Yeah, it's that kind of. Oh, we need a spray kind of thing.
Speaker A
We need to make a fake advert for this.
Speaker B
People walking down the street in slow motion with people just passing out behind.
Speaker A
You like Pepe Le Pew up to date cartoon reference.
Speaker B
Absolutely brilliant. Yeah. I used to watch Pepulik Pew when nothing else was on. But there was only about five cartoons a day. So you were lucky if you saw anything.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah. What you, what you really wanted was like Tasmanian Devil or Speedy Gonzalez or, or Danger Mouse. You really wanted Danger Mouse really, didn't you? But you got Pepe Le Pew and you just kind of. Well, fair enough. Yeah.
Speaker B
Who won? Who wanted a Lothario cartoon? Kind of.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah. Someone who smells smiled. Yeah, yeah. This is a bit of an odd one, isn't it? It's like, yeah, dirty old man cartoon.
Speaker B
A cat always mistook him or something like that.
Speaker A
But like.
Speaker B
Oh, come here. You see, that's my French. Just in case anybody was questioning what it was.
Speaker A
I thought a. Having a small seizure.
Speaker B
Not again.
Speaker A
Oh dear. No, I, I was very jealous of your, of your stove because I really, I really like the fact that, you know, winnerwell make great stoves. And, and you know, we say this all the time. We don't do paid partnerships. We're not sponsored. We actually just, we shout out good quality gear and they, they make good quality gear. So it's, we don't mind name dropping them. We both stoves.
Speaker B
Yeah. You know, the, the thing is, Tim, you've spent your hard earned money on this stuff. You know, just in case anybody was.
Speaker A
A lot of money on this stove.
Speaker B
Yeah, so, so I, I think that you're putting your money where your mouth is and certainly winner. Well, I've been looking at them for years when you could apply to be an ambassador for them and they'd give you a discount off stuff and things years ago and it was before we were doing this, so I didn't go through any of that. They probably wouldn't have had us anywhere. But we have shouted out their stuff and they have grown to be kind of a global brand, haven't they?
Speaker A
Oh yeah, absolutely. It's. They, you know, they are global now. You know, you can follow them on socials and they're, they're in Japan, they're in North America, they're in the uk, they're in Australia. They're, they've got dedicated pages for all of those. It's, they're, they're all over the place. Their stuff is made in China, but it is really well made stuff. And the nomad view that I've, I've had for a few years now is a brilliant stove. But I, I really like the new one that you've got, because it's the external air. So it's not taking air from inside the tent. Not only is it, it's, it's not like they've just put an extra vent on the back. You know, the construction within these stoves is brilliant because they're, they're then feeding that air all around the fire. So equally the whole part of the fire is getting an equal amount of fresh air coming to it all the time, which makes it a super clean and efficient burn. And, and I really, really liked that about yours. It was, it was like a, like a, a leap forward. Not just like a step in, a step up. I, and, and the, the Mars fire that I've, I've just taken delivery of, it's exactly the same. So it really, it really sort of directs the fresh air coming in right around the whole of that primary burn chamber. And, and it, and it, it's just brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Speaker B
And that I think that's the thing of. Once you, once you see that, it was kind of like a no brainer to me as in actually, you know. Yes. Tent stuff. When you talk to people about tent stoves, they're like, what fire in your tent? Isn't that the biggest. No, no. Of camping. And it certainly is in a lot of ways. No barbecues inside your tent, watch out for carbon monoxide, things like that. But tents are quite breezy places, certainly canvas tents anyway. And yeah, it just made an awful lot of sense that there is rope around the door that seals the door much more effectively, certainly around the glass as well. And then that external air which, you know, just brilliant.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
You know, and once you kind of realize those things you go, yeah, actually it is a big step forward. And nobody else seems to be thinking about those things.
Speaker A
No, not at all. They are at the moment the only company that's doing external air. And, and that essentially means that the, the bit with the fire in that you really want inside the tent is like a self contained bit inside your tent. You know, it's entirely being fed from outside and it's expelling outside. And that's like really obvious once you, once you think about it. It's like, well, that's exactly what you want it to do. You don't want it to take the air from inside the tent because you need to breathe that air and, and you, you absolutely don't want anything obviously coming into the tent from the, from the fire. It just makes, it, makes it really safe. Not that I'm not going to use my. Nomad view, because I absolutely am, because that is an entirely safe thing as well. I do tend to leave a vent open when I've got it lit though, just so there's, there's good airflow coming into the tent. Yeah, I, I am still going to use that. That's going to be my three meter bell tent stove. And this is for the four meter. So.
Speaker B
Well, I, I remember when you were getting the four, sorry, the small nomad and you were going, oh, should I go with the medium one and stuff. And you made the right choice because, you know, we were talking about it and it was like, well, actually, you know, although the temptation is to go for something really big within your tent, it is about that. How much oxygen is it? Is it pulling out the atmosphere in order to burn? And too big a stove in a small tent would be disastrous.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
And you know, with vents open and stuff, you know, it's, there's an awful lot of air going into them, but it just made an awful lot of sense. It doesn't mean that the other ones are unsafe, just means that this one kind of has a, A, a safety plus.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Would you say, you know.
Speaker A
Absolutely, absolutely. It's so, and the, you know, the small nomad in the smaller bell tent is, is a, it's a match made in heaven. It really, it really is. Had I got the medium sized one size stove in the small bell tent, it had been too hot. You know, not only would it draw too much oxygen out of the tent, but actually it would be too blooming hot for that space. It's, I'd have been, you know, cooked. So it's, you know, horses for courses. You know, this is the way I've sold it to myself. Anyway, listeners, this is, this is why I've convinced myself I was in on my own. I'd been, I'd been looking at the Kickstarter.
Speaker B
How many drinks had you had, Tim? Come on.
Speaker A
I might have had two or three pints in on my own one evening sitting there and, and I, I think, I think I'd had a shitty day and might have been like, I'm gonna have a drink, I'm gonna watch some telly and you know what, buy some stuff. I'm gonna buy that damn stove. So I bought the stove.
Speaker B
We've all been there, Tim, We've all been there.
Speaker A
I was like, oh God, I did, I did buy that stuff, didn't I? Oh, well, it'll be all right. It'll be all right.
Speaker B
Secretly pleased. Yeah, don't, don't tell somebody.
Speaker A
So. Yeah, no, but it's. I'm. I'm really pleased with it. I've. The burn was good. Got it to light really easily. And, you know, shout out to Laird for sending us the amazing knife sheaths and a Tinder pouches that he's made for us out of leather. Can't believe that he sent those out to us. I used the Tinder. Took a spark immediately. Super dry stuff. Thank you, Laird.
Speaker B
I hope you're going to refer to it as the Tim Da pouch. Tim Da. Wear it like a Sporin. You need. You need your fire lighting, Mrs. Boom. Here's Tinder. It's like you're a superhero name.
Speaker A
It sounds like a dodgy app to me, to be honest.
Speaker B
Where the hell do you swipe? I don't know. Strike.
Speaker A
It doesn't matter where you swipe. I'm still here.
Speaker B
Surprise.
Speaker A
I am the match. Oh, dear gosh. Oh, my word. Oh, my word. No, it's. But they aren't those things. Lovely. From Laird. Can you believe. Can you believe that? Can you believe that?
Speaker B
I. I really can't. Time, energy. When does that guy sleep?
Speaker A
I know.
Speaker B
When do you sleep, man?
Speaker A
Do you think it's actually just AI?
Speaker B
It might. It might be, but I know he's.
Speaker A
Always down the door.
Speaker B
Joe, do it. You know, it was like. Does he have a side hustle of, you know, just whittling and putting leather and stuff? I don't know. He's just superhuman.
Speaker A
Superhuman. It proper is.
Speaker B
What a kind thing. So, yeah, if you've not seen what we're talking about, they are on the socials. You can find us in the usual places, which is mainly Facebook and Instagram, because that's where we go to. Although we do have a thousand followers on YouTube, Tim, did you know that?
Speaker A
I did not know that. I did not know.
Speaker B
You do. We do.
Speaker A
I mean, yes, we do. You do. Well, I was like, who do you do voodoo? I'm sure that's you.
Speaker B
You've got. Gone old David Bowie on me, Tim.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah, it's.
Speaker B
You didn't even know what you were doing.
Speaker A
It was Labyrinth. It was Labyrinth. Oh, God. Up to that TV reference. Yes. Who do you do? Do what? Tim.
Speaker B
Tim. Copyright.
Speaker A
God, we're talking. We're talking proper nonsense today, aren't we?
Speaker B
We properly are. But I'm enjoying it and it's a laugh.
Speaker A
Shall I do some social shout outs? Because we. We've. We've had three come in.
Speaker B
What the Jiggins? Go on, then. What the Jiggins Well, I normally say, what the jeggins. But.
Speaker A
Oh, man, what have we got on here? We've got some. I think I've done that one. This is. This is Ryan from Ireland. Right, right. Ryland.
Speaker B
I was like, right, right. Rhinestone.
Speaker A
So he put.
Speaker B
Sorry, Ryan, sorry about that accent there, man.
Speaker A
Top of the morning to you, Ryan.
Speaker B
So haters in Ireland, let's not do a tour there?
Speaker A
No, we do it.
Speaker B
We're doing tours next year. We're going to go to all four corners of Worcestershire. Yeah, I was gonna go island. Wales, Scotland and England.
Speaker A
We could. We could do that, couldn't we? We could do the. The British Isles. So anyway, Ryan says five stars came for the number one camping podcast in the world. Stayed for two fellas laughing at dirty jokes for funny podcast.
Speaker B
Ah, I think that just sums up this episode. Never mind the whole series. We're glad to have you with us, Ryan. Thank you so much for listening and thanks for taking the time to write it. I feel like Jim. No, not Jim, nobody else. Like Mike Reed on Saturday Morning or something. That's a few.
Speaker A
No, you can't do Mike read either.
Speaker B
Oh, God.
Speaker A
All our. All our childhood TV celebrities and radio celebrities have all turned out to be wrong ins as they got older. Anyway, so Jack Mason, who's. Who's not a wronging Jack, says I've finally managed to catch up after a couple of weeks of binge listening to your podcast. Can you believe somebody binge listens to this nonsense?
Speaker B
Well, yeah, yeah, it. It is the nonsense that makes us laugh. So hopefully, you know, hopefully, hopefully, you know, you're laughing along.
Speaker A
Yes. So he goes on to say, many questionable facts make you both sound like you know what you're doing. Keep it up. Love the banter and conversation. I also blame you both for my recent purchase of a 5 meter deluxe bell tent in the end of season sale. Thanks. We'll be looking forward to every Friday morning. Excellent work, chaps. Keep it casual.
Speaker B
Well, you're welcome with that purchase. And don't forget, listeners, you purchase it, you share it with us all because we all got. Oh, we all know that feeling of a new tent turning up.
Speaker A
So if one of us is spending, we're all spending.
Speaker B
We're all spending. Yeah. Share the love. And you know, we are experts in our own thing. But I think we both agree that we are still learning after last week's episode. Tim. Still learning. Every day is a learning day.
Speaker A
Yeah, I am learning. Slowly, slowly. One day I might grow up. One day. One day I Might grow up and be able to do all this stuff proper like. But like, uncle reassured us, like Uncle Ray. He's dead to us, Eddie. He's dead to us.
Speaker B
I bet he, I bet he's secretly listening, though.
Speaker A
We need a new T shirt raised. Listening.
Speaker B
Unki Ray's listening.
Speaker A
Oh, God. I got one more. Can you believe it? We have a. We have a. We have none for a few weeks and then we get. We get three in one week. It's like buses. This, this doesn't have a name on it though. This came through on the fan mail and if you don't put your name on the fan mail, we don't get to know who you are. But I guessing you're gonna know who you are. And it says, hello, gentlemen, I enjoy listening to your podcast every week. Your camping conditions and the gear you use is quite different from our dispersed fire road camping. No facilities in the ponderosa forests of Arizona at 7,500ft. But one thing we always do is bring a hot shower and plenty of cold beer. Phoenix, Arizona. Maybe it is called Phoenix. Maybe he's called Phoenix in Arizona, but probably not. It's. I don't know who you are, but that's incredible.
Speaker B
Yeah. Kind of just makes me go, yeah, I'd like to be camping with them guys. We'd learn a thing or two, Tim. We'd learn a thing or two.
Speaker A
Oh, God, we would.
Speaker B
Maybe we wouldn't. I think I'd probably just be drunk going, hey, cheers. Mind you though, this beer is a little bit cold, fellas.
Speaker A
Yes. Anybody mind if I put the beer on the fire?
Speaker B
Anybody mind if I just prop that lid open, let the air get to that ice?
Speaker A
They got guns over there, right? Don't do that, don't do that, don't do that.
Speaker B
Well, yeah, brilliant. Thank you. I guess we're all doing camping in our own different ways all around the place. But, you know, it really feels like it's a great community of people that just everybody knows what you're. You're doing when you're going out camping, you know?
Speaker A
Yeah. You sitting there chilling and, and recharging your batteries, which recharge, which is what it's all about. I am so, so amazed that people take the time to reach out to us. So basically there's people listening, all of.
Speaker B
It place and talking about recharging your batteries. I wonder in Phoenix, Arizona, how long your solar panels would take to recharge your battery. Yeah, yeah, I bet, I bet there's certain places around the world it was like, oh, that was an hour.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
Be like a Tesla supercharger. I just had one coffee and then it was done. 80.
Speaker A
Wow. Yeah. There will be, though, won't they? It's like literally tons of sun. Tons of sun. It's just like, ping. There it is. There it is. No. Cool, Cool. So I don't know how long we've been talking for now, Ed, but we did have. We did. You were going to segue into something smoothly, weren't you, that was vaguely related to me getting a new stove.
Speaker B
Well, I think the whole purchasing of stuff, and we are now, whether we like it or not, in a global economy of, you know, shopping from wherever you want to in the world. And we did have a question on the older Facebook this week about somebody dipping their toes. Amy. I think it was. Sorry, Amy. Hello. Thanks for listening. Thanks for engaging with the group and asking some questions about. She was nervous about purchasing. She'd heard us talk about AliExpress and. And what. What did we think? So I made it just a few quick little lists of what I do, because I think that's the thing in a global economy, you do tend to be purchasing things from around the world. It matters more and more how you do it. And, you know, it makes you nervous depending on how much you're spending. So just answering a few of those questions, and I thought off the back of you getting a nice new shiny stove that's also come from China. Yeah. You know, and I guess, you know, I know we're feeling it here in the UK with price rises and fuel rises, and everybody's putting up their prices on what seems like a weekly basis. So I think now more than ever, you know how much spare income you want to keep in your pocket rather than sort of spend it. So, you know, actually, cash is king. Cheapest price wins. You know, that whole thing of, is it good quality or, you know, are you buying once? And where you're getting it from is ever more present, I guess. Yeah. So. So, yeah, I wanted to segue into that.
Speaker A
Yeah, I've. I've. Personally, I've never used AliExpress. I. I've looked at it lots of times. I think the. When I first looked at it, it was mainly one of those companies that it was like buying something direct from the Chinese manufacturers. But you had to buy like a thousand of something.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
And I was just like, I don't need a thousand. You know, whatever they are. I. I just wanted one. But.
Speaker B
So there's. There's the first myth that I'M gonna bust before you finish.
Speaker A
Go for it.
Speaker B
So Alibaba is one of the world's largest sites that puts manufacturers and purchases together. So AliExpress is more or less the kind of Chinese version of Amazon. Okay. So rather than those, I think it, you, you used to be able to buy, you know, huge quantities and, and stuff like that. Yeah, that was more Alibaba rather than Aliexpress.
Speaker A
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker B
So AliExpress is more the, the retailers kind of thing, so you can, can go shopping on there and just buy ones and twos.
Speaker A
Cool, cool. I get.
Speaker B
And it's been developing over the years so you can buy some big quantities of stuff. And have you heard of drop shipping?
Speaker A
No.
Speaker B
Well, so there's a lot of drop shoppers now on Amazon where they're basically going to China going, how much can you send me that for? What if I buy, you know, a thousand of them, what you're giving me for them for 10p, right. And then they'll pop them on Amazon and sell them for a quid.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker B
So. So they're not actually doing stuff and then they're just going, right, okay, this is what you get. And then they just get them shipped to you direct. That's what drop shipping is. So they don't actually have it in there, they're just. That's my interpretation. Please. Well, actually doing writing, if I've got it wrong, you don't come here for the facts, but, you know, you do a little bit. So I think that that's what that is. So there's an awful lot of stuff that you can buy on AliExpress that are actually on Amazon these days, you know, so if you're too nervous to think, oh, but if you want to go direct and get those bargains, you can try AliExpress.
Speaker A
And so does it have a lot of camping stuff on it?
Speaker B
It's got loads. It's. I mean, it, it's, you know, as massive as Amazon kind of is really, I think, over in China. So. So yeah, they've got loads of camping stuff. And like, we all know with China, there's a lot of stuff that, you know, is just copied of other things. So it might not be made out of the same material, but there's also a lot of really good design stuff over there. So, you know, there, there's some people thinking really differently. They're manufacturing things quite cheaply and, okay, it plays into the China economy kind of thing. But hey, this is a camping show. I'm not going to get into those Kind of things we don't do, global.
Speaker A
Politics we don't do, you know, we're.
Speaker B
Talking about, hey, we're trying to keep money in our pockets, we're trying to keep money in pockets. And sometimes we all agree that where we would like to be buying our national stuff, sometimes it's priced a little bit too high just because it's kind of local. You know, we support, where we can do. We support local businesses, we give shout outs to people, we go to the fairs and we buy stuff locally that way. But in this kind of thing sometimes people are wanting to, you know, just save a little bit of money. Yeah, that's certainly where I come from with it.
Speaker A
That's good. So how do you, how do you. Because I'm always a little bit nervous about going on on those sorts of websites like Teemo. You know, the amount of times I've, I've got fooled into clicking on a blooming Teemu link and then it like says, oh, download the app. And I've downloaded the app a couple of times but I'm then like this is just going to steal all my card details. So how do you, you know, if you've pulled stuff from there, how, what, how do you go about it? Because I, I, I'm like proper paranoid about losing on me, on me, on my personal identifiable information.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah. And, and that, that's a big concern that I think puts a lot of people off. Now I'm not an advocate, I am an advocate of AliExpress, but I'm in no way sponsored or anything. I've got some great stuff from them and I know friends that have also done the same. So that self, same thing occurred to me. I didn't want to put my card details in. So they've got some really good things like you can pay after delivery.
Speaker A
Wow.
Speaker B
So you can. Yeah. So yeah, they, they just track it and ship it and once you've got it then they take payments. Secondary thing is you can use PayPal. So none of your details are there. You, if you've got a PayPal account, you can just sort of pay for that and then you can pay various different ways with them, you know, pay later and whatever else. And I think the rules for AliExpress, if you're selling on there, so a local manufacturer in China has to have sent shipping information within a couple of hours.
Speaker A
Cool.
Speaker B
So this really confused me because I think I'd bought a different, I bought a few things from different people and they all sent me the same shipping number and I Was like, oh, that's a bit weird.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
But basically their rules are that they've got to send you something in a couple of hours, so it becomes a generic sort of shipping number so that they can say that they've met their target it. And then after a day or something, because the shipping numbers change internally in China to then when they get to destination land. So they then change to something because it might be Royal Mail that's shipping it. So they give you a different one. I've been doing it for 10 years or so and, you know, I'm not on there every week, but, you know, every couple of months I'll buy something maybe, and it always turns up. And the difference between prices. So Amy was asking this, how do you find what you want? Because she was saying she was after something from a local thing, but she couldn't see whether they had a shop.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Or that there was other things, other people that were selling their stuff. And it's a bit like that, you know. So. Nature hike I first saw on there. And now you see it in the uk. Yeah, they've got Amazon shop. You know, you can find it all over the place.
Speaker A
Place.
Speaker B
But I first found it over there on AliExpress and there was lots, you know, there. There's hundreds of people selling the same thing. And then you've got the difference between those that are offering free shipping, where their prices might be a little bit higher, and those that are giving you a discount, but then adding shipping to it to try and sort of confuse you and stuff. And then some of those can be really, really different price. So, yeah, sometimes just shopping about, you know, once you know what you've got, and then going down the rabbit hole of once you click on something, it then starts to. The AI bots start to present you with similar things.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
And then you can find some really good bargains there. So I've done that a few times. But, yeah, you know, it's trial and error. I think the security thing is the one that everybody sort of falls with and. Yeah. So using PayPal for me feels that I've got at least some way of coming back if something doesn't turn up.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
But I've also had other things. I bought something. It was a. I think it was a camera or something and it didn't quite work and I sent it back. I just had to pop it back in the post and there. I think there was a UK site that took returns, popped it in and got my money back really quickly, like within a week. Wow. So, yeah, I've been lucky. I'm sure that there are some horror stories out there. And, you know, this isn't him. And Aid and casual camping podcast saying, hey, everybody, go shopping on AliExpress. You do it at your own risk. And only you know how nervous you are about whether or not you can to do that. And, you know, I'm a little bit more flippant because I want to save some bucks.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker B
So I'll be like, well, okay, I've made this precaution. I'm going to use my PayPal and I'm going to do this.
Speaker A
And yeah, so I, I tend to be the other way and I'm, I'm more cautious and tend to use. If I'm buying online, I'm. I'm using trusted sites. It's. And, And I'm just, I'm just being, Just being careful, being super careful. And I, you know, I've never bought anything off AliExpress. I've never bought anything off Teemo. But our, you know, friend of the show, Daz, he's. He's bought loads of stuff off Teemo. And, And I have to say, 90 of it has actually probably been all right. Stuff. Really. It's. It's been, it's been okay. He's had some bargains. Really.
Speaker B
Yeah. I think that's the thing, isn't it, that. So I'm a little bit like you. I see something on an advert on somewhere else and go, oh, and then you can't see team you unless you download the app.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
And then it takes me 10 minutes to get past all of the. Oh, if you buy this thing. And then we'll give you six more things. And then. And then I was like, it always confuses me and I've had so many things in my basket, but then couldn't check out because it was telling me that I just needed one more thing to get everything free. And then tell me that it was 47 quid.
Speaker A
I don't understand. No, do not understand this. I don't get it. I don't get it at all. I've done exactly the same thing. You kind of click on something, you go, oh, well, it's. It's 100 off. What do you mean it's 100 off? And, and, well, I like the look of that. And that's like one. You know, it's like 12 pence or something like that. I'm going, yeah, this is ridiculous. And then you try and get. In any event, he goes, no, you haven't got enough in your basket yet to. And it's just like, oh, do you know what? Delete the app. This is. This is. This is making my brain hurt. I'm not doing it. I don't trust any of this. This is. While I'm on here, somebody's hacking my bank account somehow.
Speaker B
It's. Yeah, yeah, I feel the same. And I. I think I. I wish they would just calm it down a little bit and they'd probably get more. They'd certainly get more sales from me. I have made a purchase from Timu, but I just. I went, not interested, not interested, not interested for about 10 minutes going, no. And then they've got the. Which discount do you want? And I was like, which is the one with 01? And I was following it around. Just let me purchase something.
Speaker A
Just let me through to the.
Speaker B
It's like you've got a. Like a con man in the street playing cups and stuff.
Speaker A
And I was like, well, I know.
Speaker B
Which one it is, but that is.
Speaker A
That is exactly what. What it's like feels like. It's like there's a con man on the street and it's. It's like Delboy is there trying to. Trying to sell you some dodgy watch. It's. Yeah, Timo absolutely feels like a dodgy con man all the time. And. And I know there are people out there that use it and buy it and. And, you know, they do get some stuff off there, but it's good to know that AliExpress isn't quite how I imagined it was. I'd kind of grouped it in with. With the old Teemo as well, and. And done it that way. But.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Have you ever. You ever bought anything off Alibaba, then? You ever bought like a bulk purchase if that's where you get bulk stuff from?
Speaker B
I. I have. Do you remember when I used to sell the Radio Flyer wagons?
Speaker A
Oh, God, yeah. Is that where you got that from?
Speaker B
They were a copy, but, yeah, I think I got them just a. Bought consignment at 25. Wow. Oh, God, yeah. The other thing to sort of notice. So here in the uk, and I know it's the same around the world, America, you. I don't know what your rates are because they're changing very rapidly.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
But here in the UK, if you are making a purchase under 135 pounds, you don't pay import duty on it. So if you're gonna buy a lot of things, maybe make two purchases. I've done that before to. To sort of come under that import duty levy.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
But also what you've got to take, it's a little bit like in America where tax is added after, afterwards, so they give you the rock bottom price and then they add China's tax, so your basket is always a little bit more. And then whether or not you've got free shipping, if you're paying for shipping, that also adds to that 135 value. So don't spend like 130 quid and then add shipping on top because that'll take you over as well.
Speaker A
Interesting, because that's. That's a top tip there, Ed.
Speaker B
Yeah, it really is. I've been burnt without one. What, you've taken it back until go.
Speaker A
What? Why are you answering me parcels? Oh, God, yeah. No, that is, that is. That's worth. Worth keeping in mind, isn't it? Because actually, if you are buying. Because they sell. They do sell, you know, they sell bell tents and all sorts on there, won't they? They sell, they sell.
Speaker B
They sell everything and they do copies. You know, I've talked about Spring Bar as a tent maker in the us. They've got versions of Spring Bar tents on there that are not as good quality, obviously, but because Spring Bar don't ship to the uk, so I, I was just like. I quite like one of those tents. I haven't managed to do it because I'm sure there's a whole load of copyrighting kind of things. But, yeah, I was just like, it's an interesting thing when you start looking for things and then you go, oh, you really can find everything.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Which is why. Yeah, you know, it's. Morally, I don't know where I stand with it all, but, you know, from a camper that's wanting to save some money and like some shiny stuff, it kind of goes, oh, there's some great stuff there.
Speaker A
And I suppose this is. This is all us all over, really, isn't it? This is casual camping podcast. And yes, we, we've talked long about. Support your local business, buy local, buy your own country, you know, support your own, your own, your own economy.
Speaker B
Yeah, massively agree with all of that. Really, really do.
Speaker A
But there are also certain times when actually, you know, if there's. If there's a bargain and you think it's going to be an all right bargain. Not, Not a piece of tat, actually. It is, it is all right to get that one thing from. From, you know, overseas and actually a lot of the stuff that you think you're buying in your own country wasn't even made in your own country, it was made in China anyway. So you may as well try and buy it direct from the. The manufacturer and save a few pounds because you end up buying almost the same thing anyway.
Speaker B
And, and that, that's the thing, you know, sometimes. Yeah. Even the big designer clothes people, you know, they actually make for their sales stuff that is made in cheaper factories.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
But, you know, specifically for those things. That's just the way that the global economy goes. So it's just trying to figure those things out. I used to work for Royal Dalton years ago and we used to sell decanters for. I've done lots of things. Tim, you're all over the place. Aren't I? But they always used. So we could say that there were 50 off. There was always four shops that sold them at this massive price. But actually there we were selling them at 50 quid, saying there were a hundred quid, but actually they don't. They'd been made for like 20 quid. So we were still making the 100.
Speaker A
Oh, my God.
Speaker B
And that's the tricky stuff that, you know, retailers do out there, you know, so tricksty. Tricky.
Speaker A
Wow. Yeah, tricks. The trickster. Wow.
Speaker B
Definitely.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So. So, yeah, so I'm always aware of those things about, you know, people and I, yeah, you know, there's a tent that I really want at the minute and they're going, oh, an introductory offer of 50 off and stop. And I, I was think, yeah, no, that's the actual price that looks about the actual price that that should be. So, so I, I've got that in mind. And then I'm thinking, well, actually don't use a discount to say that, you know, you're doing me a favor when you're actually selling it for the price that, you know, if it's not going to go up to that other price.
Speaker A
Then, yeah, yeah, it's never actually sold at that price. I, I've got. I think shops have a lot more integrity when actually they, they give you like 10 off. And. And you think, yeah, that's. Although, yeah, I'd love it to be 50 of that. Actually. I trust the original price that that was the price it was. And 10 off actually is a discount. Yeah. Because that, that just feels a bit more honest and certain than. And like a fire sale.
Speaker B
It's. And, and, you know, and I guess the, you know, the, the nights are coming in in the uk, we're gonna put our British summit away and our clocks are gonna go back an hour pretty soon in the next two or three weeks. So some people I know this is the end of their camping season. For me it was always the start of right shopping. What am I going to put on the Christmas list? What am I going to buy? What are those sort of end of season sales? Can I buy, find myself a bargain that I might put away for next year or even if you're into trying to make a little bit of money, those half price tents that are being sold that you're going to put away and resell come spring next year when you know you might be able to make a bit of money. You know, I've done that before.
Speaker A
So yeah, yeah. This is, this is the nice thing really that when you are, when you are a, A, a camper that, that's happy to go out 12 months of the year. This time of year is quite exciting really because this is, this is when camping stores, you know, are literally selling off all their stuff certainly here in the UK and they're clearing, clearing their stores. They need to get, you know, the money back for the stock that they're holding and it means actually there's loads of camping bargains out there at the moment and, and you. I'm not stopping camping, I'm still going. So, so it's great. You get to kind of buy stuff now and we don't put it away until next season. We, we don't make it camping.
Speaker B
Well, you see. So there's also those places that have started to do a camping section in the spring, summer. Oh that there's something that we can make and most of the stuff, you wouldn't necessarily. I, I certainly wouldn't. I turn my nose and pallet. Oh gosh, I've got better stuff than that.
Speaker A
I wouldn't touch that with yours. Never mind.
Speaker B
I, I got some half price gas from Halfords of all places. So yeah, gas is quite expensive normally. So yeah, I got loads of it at half price because you don't ever see that. But because Halfords isn't someone that really does camping, it was just like, let's clear this, we don't want to be storing it till next year. So those places that all of a sudden have a camping bit that don't normally you, you know, they clear out. They don't, you know.
Speaker A
Yeah, Halfords did used to go big on camping, used to do its own tents and all sorts of stuff and.
Speaker B
They, Yeah, I think they still do on some things but yeah, they really clear down some good discounts.
Speaker A
Fab, fab. Worth having A look worth having a look. Well then, should we. Should we slide away into a minute mindfulness?
Speaker B
Oh, yeah. There's an oasis. No time dancing out copyright.
Speaker A
Nobody needs to hear me sing. Hear this instead. Welcome to the casual camping minute mindfulness. Let the sounds of nature take you back to the camping floor. Field it. Oh, there you go, Ed. So that made you all relaxed.
Speaker B
It has. I love hearing the wind in the trees. Love it.
Speaker A
I hate it when you do that. I'm now going to find bloody wind in the trees to play.
Speaker B
I was sat there camping last week and I'd worked till 5 or 6 and I'd not got myself ready, so hence why I went in the other tent.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker B
Yeah. That I've not had out for two years. And it was lovely and I love that tent. Everything about the pool structure and stuff.
Speaker A
Your Sierra Designs. Yeah, Nice tent.
Speaker B
Yeah, absolutely love it. But it's been two years since I've been in a man made fiber tent and it was. The condensation in there was horrendous. I probably needed to open the vents a little bit more, but I didn't.
Speaker A
God. Yeah, it's. It's a. It's. It's what? It's 12 months since I've more than 12 months since I've been in a. A tent of a man. Man made fiber tent. It's because we just don't do it very often, do it? It was, I think it was Ben Nevis. I took the. The big fat frog to Nevis.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah. Other than that, it's been. It's either been a canvas tent or the hammock that's open anyway. So there's no condensation with a hammock.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it was an interesting thing. I. I'm loving me some canvas, but I do love that the, the shapes and the designs and. Yeah, just beautiful. So, yeah, really liked getting that back out again. I might sell it this season.
Speaker A
Oh, I love it. But I might sell it.
Speaker B
Yeah, well, you know, there's those things of. Yeah, pop it on me.
Speaker A
What.
Speaker B
What else could I buy if I had that kind of money?
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
That's the other thing about this time of year. You know, what could I buy off AliExpress? But there are those things where I go, well, I've not had that out for two years. So do I. Do I. Do I want to keep it or shall I reinvest that in something else?
Speaker A
Yeah, good idea. Good idea. It's always so was nice. You do that a lot. I tend to just buy something and hold on to it forever. It's. But we should definitely do a. A. Obviously I want to get out camping with the new stove and get that going, but actually we should. We should do a camping trip where we just take the fast and light tents and we. We still haven't done stealth camping aid. We really.
Speaker B
I keep on looking at places. Let's do some stealth camping.
Speaker A
There's a roundabout. There's a roundabout down near me that's. That's properly got like a little wood in the middle of it and it's really dense. I'm pretty certain we could get in the middle of there and nobody would know we were there for the night.
Speaker B
Yeah. And that. That's where two podcasters lost because the car's gone over the middle thing.
Speaker A
All right. Yeah, maybe not a roundabout.
Speaker B
I've seen the stealth campers doing roundabouts. But yeah, we'll.
Speaker A
We'll give that a go. We'll give that. We'll. We'll put that one on a bat burner and we'll see. We'll see if we can come up with a better idea. But, but, but, yeah, I. I'm hungry. I'm going to go for me tea.
Speaker B
Sounds good. All right. I've been aid.
Speaker A
I've been Tim. And we'll see you next week, everybody. Have fun. Casual camping Podcast accepts no liability and does not officially recommend any products or endorse any techniques discussed in an individual podcast episode or shown on casual camping podcast social media accounts. Individuals should make their own informed decision and risk assessment of any products or advice prior to any purchase or use.