89. An Unplanned Month in Basque Country, Portugal, and Morocco

**Calvin Rosser** (0:03)
We weren't on the best of terms.

**Steph Smith** (0:05)
You just told me to send it.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:06)
Without that trip, we wouldn't be us.

**Steph Smith** (0:09)
That little bit of unknown magic.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:10)
It is dunzo.

**Steph Smith** (0:11)
I don't think people can really understand how big a 100-foot wave is.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:15)
Did you surf Nazaré? Did you see it at a 100-foot? See how powerful the ocean and the white water, it's like stepping into the storm.

**Steph Smith** (0:23)
We saw barrels.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:24)
There's boars flying everywhere. Total madness.

**Steph Smith** (0:28)
Instagram and now TikTok have forever changed how people travel.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:32)
Imagine being so old and wise that you know that travel wasn't always about food.

**Steph Smith** (0:37)
I'm still undecided on whether food is better in Japan or Basque Country.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:43)
There's a reason that the rich and famous go there.

**Steph Smith** (0:45)
It was ahead of culture.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:47)
You just feel like you're in an episode of Succession. Welcome back to the Shit You Don't Learn in School podcast. This is Calvin Rosser.

**Steph Smith** (0:54)
And this is Steph Smith.

**Calvin Rosser** (0:56)
And today, we're going to be talking about a riveting trip, a surprise trip to Europe.

**Steph Smith** (1:01)
A whole month.

**Calvin Rosser** (1:08)
Yes, a whole month in Europe, and it was totally unplanned up to about two weeks before. You got a text getting an invite to a walk on the Camino in Portugal and Spain with Kevin Kelly. I was like, you should totally do that. We'll be really life enhancing. Kevin Kelly is known as the world's most interesting man by Tim Ferriss and founded Wired and all kinds of other stuff that you can talk about since you actually know him.
And I was like, okay, I'll join you for a week. Maybe we'll go to Portugal. And then somehow it turned into not only Portugal in your walk, but Morocco, France, Spain, and lots of new little corners within all those places that we had either been to or got to see in a new light.

**Steph Smith** (1:48)
Yeah, it's so crazy because before I got that message, we had no intention of going to Europe. I had heard of the Camino walk, but I candidly knew very little about it other than some people do it and it's this whole spiritual or riveting experience.
And yeah, you just told me to send it. So that's where we started. We knew that I would spend a week walking the Camino and we'll talk about that. But then as you said, we also went to Basque Country, which is now one of my favorite parts of the world. And that means a lot because we've been to quite a few places. So how do we want to go through all of those experiences?

**Calvin Rosser** (2:28)
I think let's go location by location. Some will be more interesting or in-depth than others. But let's start with where we started, which is Portugal. We both had been there, I think, over five times. So the way that I made it exciting and planning it was I decided that we had rent a car and we'd cruise up the coast, starting in Lisbon and going all the way up to Porto and seeing some of these world-famous surf breaks and see if the swell gods were able to deliver something for us because the spring is a little bit of a finicky time for surf in that area.

**Steph Smith** (2:59)
Yeah, so we started in Lisbon. Actually, I want to share something with listeners because we've done several episodes about us getting married and maybe a little bit about our story. Lisbon does actually have a special place for us because that is where we reunited. During our few days there, we went back to the exact place where we rekindled the flame, and there were these trees that had bright purple flowers that you called Barney Trees.
That was just a cool moment of going back to a place, like you said, we've been so many times. But also, we should talk about how it's changed.

**Calvin Rosser** (3:41)
Just to add to your story, in 2019, we were working for the same company and we weren't on the best of terms. This is after we had a little bit of a go at a relationship and then it didn't work out. Then I somehow duped our boss into making you come to a retreat that I was hosting in Lisbon. When I got there, I was like, I don't know how Steph's going to behave. I don't know if she's going to be friendly with me. At least she has to be a professional because we're working together. Little by little, we started to rekindle the flame and that began a journey where we then met up in New Zealand and Australia, moved to Antonitos and eventually got married. But without that trip, we wouldn't be us.