Eating Pie Through The Tears With Hal Lublin

We all make sacrifices when we travel, like our body for the ability to have more stuff, gifts for those we meet along the way, or our very dignity for the taste of sweet, sweet pie. Before we get started, a moment to rave about the best little piece of technology we’ve discovered since traveling. It’s a VPN, which we didn’t really think we needed. Until we started this trip to China. Holy crap. It’s awesome. In all honesty, we’d planned using the 30-day no questions asked money back guarantee after we got back from China. Nope. It’s awesome. The links in the next paragraph? Some of them won’t work for us in Thailand. Unless we flip on the VPN. Then we get ‘em all! Welcome to the personal data revolution. Get this VPN today. You’ll love it. Now… what’s this week’s show about? Oh, right!We met funnyman and voice actor Hal Lublin over dinner in Philly almost a decade ago. (Thanks for picking up the tab and introducing us to your son, Bill!) If you don’t know the name, you’ll know the voice. Welcome to Nightvale. Thrilling Adventure Hour. Venture Brothers. Or the forthcoming Mighty Magiswords on Cartoon Network. Or maybe his own hilarious geek-fight podcast We Got This With Mark and Hal on the Maximum Fun NetworkHal isn’t your typical backpacker. Just ask his back. Or the Sistine Chapel, which he didn’t enjoy quite as well as his traveling companions. And even though we shared a lovely meal together, we luckily didn’t order apple pie. Because that would have been awkward. And damp. You’ll just have to listen to hear why. It’s worth it. (Skip to 12:30 if you want. Yes, it’s that funny. And sad.)As long-term followers know, we spent all of 2015 on the road, but only 30 or so days in hotels. The rest were nights spent free, thanks to housesitting. It’s awesome, and you should do it. And when you do, please steal our idea of cooking dinner for the family when they return, and get them a little gift. Or an entirely new bathroom if you feel like it, I guess?Can we talk about rain? We’ve made it through one of the eight months of the rainy season in Thailand. After blowing through (heh) a couple of cheap knockoffs, we’ve settled on the ShedRain Flat-Pack Vented Umbrella. Not only is it solidly built, it’s tiny and looks kinda cool. And we’re all about the cool. Thanks for sending it to us, TravelSmith!  (Use the link and save $20 on your entire order at checkout!)Right now, we’re in the process of sending a boatload of postcards to all of our supporters from Chengdu, China! We bought a few extras, too. Want one? Sign up today to get a handwritten postcard from us each and every month.Music for our show is graciously provided by the fantastic band Velella Velella. They make killer tunes, and you should buy all of their stuff. It’s fabulous!Want more ShEvo in your life? Well… you’ve got options. Snapchat, Facebook, Flickr... those are just the beginning. Check out ShEvo.wtf for links to your preferred listening post. We’ve quite a few! This One Time (The Podcast) is recorded live from all over the world. It really depends on where we are. But we always release it on Tuesdays. Stay subscribed on iTunes or whatever else you use to listen to podcasts and you’ll never miss an episode.