Discover the punchlines behind the purpose with Intrepid’s local leaders, who share laughs and showmanship while guiding around the world.
If you’re a regular traveller, you’ll likely have a sense of humour. Because, when you really think about it, travel just is funny. The awkward bathroom moments. The unusual customs. The absolute idiot you typically make of yourself while trying something new…
Yep, being able to see the funny side of things is a soft skill that’s often overlooked. Yet time and time again, it’s the thing we all remember. That one joke that dispersed the nerves. The ridiculous moment that diffused the tension. The set piece that brought everyone together.
As people who live their lives on the road, Intrepid’s leaders have mastered the art of making light of things. Hailing from Turkey to Tanzania, these travelling stand-ups reveal their funniest moments (so you know you’re not the only one who misjudged your airport outfit…).
A Maasai warrior walks into an airport
Born and raised in the Maasai Mara, 25-year-old Alex Gilisho leads Intrepid trips in Kenya and Tanzania. He likes to break the ice with his groups by telling them about the first time he travelled by plane. ‘I was flying for the first time, from Zanzibar to Nairobi,’ he says. ‘I turned up at the airport wearing my full Maasai attire. Yes, the whole attire, including the machete. You can imagine the looks I got and the level of questioning from security,’ he laughs. ‘In the end, they let me fly, but (understandably) I had to put the machete in my checked luggage. It was a fun – if stressful – day’. After that anecdote, Alex says, no one feels silly because they couldn’t find their departure gate or packed their liquids in the wrong place; first-day jitters disappear and everyone’s ready to start the trip.
Which is handy – because on a safari, travellers will have plenty of other obstacles to navigate. Like toilets, for example, which can be hard to come by when you’re travelling in the wilderness. ‘So, you improvise and go’, says Alex. ‘We call it “bushy bushy”’. He recalls the time one guest asked what happens when someone needs to go in a national park, where people are not allowed to come out of the vehicles due to the roaming wildlife. ‘I said: “If there’s a need for bushy bushy, we must take it – because there’s definitely no bus-y bus-y.”’ After that, Alex finds, everyone’s happy to make peace with Mother Nature and embrace the full alfresco African experience.
An Egyptian walks onto an ice rink
Local Egypt leader, Michael Atallah, who lives in Giza with his wife and daughter, leads groups from Alexandria to Aswan. But while he feels at home amid his country’s pyramids and pharaohs, Michael remembers a funny moment with one group where he was very much out of his element.
‘Randomly, I was in Cairo with my travellers and we came across a place where you can skate. Now, coming from Egypt, I have never done ice skating in my life’, he chuckles. ‘But some of my travellers insisted on taking me with them. They said that they would teach me and even bought me a ticket. However, when I first put the shoes on, I felt like I was frozen in my place. I didn’t know how to move my feet, until a couple from my group, grabbed me by my two arms – one on each side – and walked me around. It was hilarious, I couldn’t stop laughing at myself and my travellers couldn’t stop laughing at me,’ he says. Naturally, once you’ve seen your leader looking like a newborn gazelle on ice, trying new things on a small-group trip – however silly you look – suddenly seems like a cinch.
A bus rolls into a roadblock
A readiness to raid the chuckle bank can also prove vital when problems arise, as they inevitably do on the road. This is something local Cambodia leader, Chanchesda Por, discovered when her group hit heavy traffic and adverse road conditions on route from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh during the King’s Birthday holiday. ‘The guests had been travelling for a long time,’ she says. ‘I could see that everyone was becoming tired and frustrated. Rather than allowing the mood to become negative, I stood up and said, “Good news everybody – we’re not lost. We’re simply having extra time to enjoy the same view!”. The guests laughed, and I continued by saying, “In Cambodia, traffic is sometimes like a meditation session. We sit quietly, breathe deeply and practice patience – although the cars around us do not always meditate.”’ The situation didn’t change immediately, she notes, but the atmosphere did. The guests began talking, sharing stories and taking photos, instead of focusing on the delay.
A chicken walks into a Turkey
Saygu Sezen, a 38-year-old guide from Turkey, who has previously won Intrepid’s ‘Leader of the Year’, is one joker who likes to be spontaneous. ‘I always remember the Eriksen family from Perth,’ he says. ‘They live in a beautiful house with farm animals. One day, Mrs Eriksen was checking her home-security camera, when she noticed her chickens had wandered into the bedroom. Soon several of us were gathered around her phone, watching the chickens stroll around. Suddenly, I started dubbing them, giving each chicken its own voice:
Chicken 1: ‘Where are our owners?’
Chicken 2: ‘We’ve entered their coop!’
Chicken 3: ‘Look at the size of the place they sleep in. She must lay huge eggs!’
Chicken 1: ‘No wonder her kids are so tall!’
Chicken 2: ‘But where are they? Did they leave us? Are we going to starve?’
Chicken 3: ‘They went to Turkey!’
Chicken 1 (heartbroken): ‘I can’t believe it… they left us for a turkey!’
Of course, Saygu tried his best to sound like a proper Australian chicken, not an English-speaking chicken with a Turkish accent for the Eriksens. But moments like this have shown him how humour can bring a whole group together: ‘Showing that you can laugh at yourself is really important,’ he reflects. ‘I know many guests won’t remember the exact date a historical site was built, but they will remember the moment we laughed together in front of it’.
Find your happy place with other like-minded travellers on a small-group tour with Intrepid.
