Two Massholes Recap Hair Transplant Trip to Turkey with 30 Americans (📍 Turkiye) | Drop A Pin Ep. 72

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One of the staff comes up and he's like, is this any of your guys tickets and it's just White Sox Day tickets, it's just on the floor of the airport floating around. Then we're going through security and we get there, he's like, can I put three bottles of wine through security? And I was like, no, that needs to go in your checked bag and we're heading out of the plane so he's like, oh, fuck, and then has to run back and get that bag checked. Hey, how are you? Welcome back to Drop a Pin. Reporting live from a hotel room in Istanbul. This will be a bald stool season 2 recap. My guest, Jeremy Phelps, you may not have heard of him because he's a random stool who came on this trip to get a hair transplant and this is his very first podcast appearance. How are you doing, Jeremy? I'm good, man. I appreciate you guys having me on. Tell you what, for my first podcast, I definitely didn't expect to be looking like this, but I'm excited to be here. Yeah, most of the time when you walk in like a hotel room and there's three cameras set up, it's like, we'll get to know you. Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah. It's usually a hardcore porn, but no, we're going to keep this PG and I just wanted to get the stoolies perspective on this pod because you know, I'm sure, you know, Dave's going to go back, talk about on his podcast. Yeah, I wanted to get the stoolies perspective because there were a lot of stoolies on this trip. About 20, 23 stoolies, five bar stool employees and then six production, four production and then I guess including me and white socks, Dave is the co-host. I'm not going to lie right now. Like I am running on fumes, but a lot of people have asked me, they're like, what's it been like traveling around with such a large crew in Turkey? The stoolies have been great. Like you guys haven't been like, it's not like there's anybody who's been going off the rails, like getting the whole crew in trouble. It's just there's been like a lot of events, a lot of activities and being the host. I feel like I got to be at all of them. Yeah. And I feel like as the host, I don't want to go home early. So like we had a big welcome dinner and welcome dinner probably ended around like 10 30. I got home at 3 30 that night. Were you out late that night too? Yes. I was out late most of those nights. Yeah. And to your point, something I have a whole new appreciation for that I kind of never saw behind the scenes as a stoolies. How hard you guys work. Like the production team, Sammy, Ty, Corey, Ben, even you, like you guys are all bad at late. You're all bad at early constantly. You know, after the bar is one of those nights, I get back there and they're crunching film, crunching tape, whatever the terminology is. But it's very impressive and I don't think people appreciate what kind of work goes on behind the scenes here. You had to deal with all the logistics of like, you know, you got 30 people you'd never even met before in a group chat and they're all trying to coordinate different events and whatnot. And like I was stunned at how, you know, you never wavered just, it's been very impressive, you know. Yeah. Someone asked me if this is like the largest thing I've ever done and I guess logistically for sure. Yeah. But honestly, all things considered, it's been going pretty smooth. Now, before we continue, just like tell us a little bit more about yourself. Yeah, sure. All I can tell you is that he's a fellow mass hole. That's right, fellow mass hole. So I grew up in the Worcester area, actually West Boyles, and it's a town right outside of Worcester and it's about an hour west of Boston. But I went to college out in Cleveland, John Carroll University, shot out my blue streaks there. It's Jesuit school. I don't want to send a lot of football coaches to the NFL, including Josh McDaniels, go paths to the end of the way we wanted to, but anyhow, went to college out there and I lived in Cleveland for eight, six, seven, eight years after college. Great city. I tell you what, Cleveland gets a bad rap. It is such a fun city. I go back there all the time. So many lifelong friends there. Don't knock it till you try it. I've only spent like a couple of days in Cleveland. I had a great time. It's great. I went to like a pool club. It was just a club on the lake or the river, whatever they have there, with giant pool and a DJ. I was like, this is not the first thing. Yeah. Okay. Don't say I think is a. Don't say is the one. Don't say is the one who got me in. I just remember going up and I asked this larger black guy to take a photo of him because everyone told me that he was like playing LeBron James and the upcoming LeBron James biopic. And I don't think that was the guy. I think he was in the movie, but he was he was not LeBron James. Maybe he was like someone on his team. But no, we had a great time. Kaby got kicked out of one of Dante's bars, which was like hard to do. There was a John Boy. Yeah. I think it was in good night, John Boy. There was a long line for the bathroom. And Kaby kind of just went behind the bar and just started like working the bar, but like wasn't charging people or was maybe charging people would just have them like send the money to his demo. That would get you. And then had to puke and just skip the entire line, went in the bathroom and puke. And Dante was like, I love you buddy, but you and your entire crew have to leave. Yeah, that'll get you. But no, beautiful or awesome city Miami, the Midwest. I feel, but I spent a lot of time with you. Did you just call Cleveland the Miami of the Midwest? We see a sunset over Lake Erie. I live in Chicago. I know. We've got we've got sunsets over lakes as well. I'm telling you, man, this, that is just beautiful. You got to see it. Wait till you see it. Have you ever partied in Chicago though? There's like one sunset a year. That's nice, but it's, it's, it's beautiful. Okay. And I have parted in Chicago. I actually go to Chicago a good amount. I was just there in August. And Dante got me. So I have this relationship with Dante. He doesn't probably even know who I am. But on my Twitter, we've been talking about food going back and forth for years. And we have a bunch of the same ties from Cleveland, Boston, whatever. So when he was in Cleveland, I was sending him food places to go. And then I eventually was like, hey, I'm going to be in Chicago and you've got us a table at your homeboy, whatever. So I appreciate that even though you don't even know who I am. Good guy. But love Chicago too, man. So much fun out there every time I go. Have you ever been in the play pen? No. Okay. Now that's the Miami of the Midwest. No. The play pen is like this kind of sheltered area of the lake where like everyone takes out yachts on the weekends. Okay. It's not something. It's not something I do a lot, but I feel like it's the closest you can get to the Miami experience in the Midwest. Yeah. No, I've seen pictures. I got off to a bad start in Chicago. I went there for a fall break in college and I got robbed the gunpoint my first night in Chicago in White Sox. That is. It's cellular fields parking lot. That is insane because like a lot of people when I tell them I live in Chicago, they're like be safe. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I've lived there, you know, almost three years now. I've never encountered crime ones. No, this was something like this was like a buddy was like, hey, let's go meet up with an old high school friend late at night out of whites, you know, and was the old high school friend like was that the one trying to rob you guys? No. Okay. It's funny. You say that there was a couple people that thought it might have been an inside job, but it wasn't. I mean, we didn't have. We were freshman in college. We had, you know, I'm on it. You do. There's $7 on this debit card. What are you going to do with this? Yeah. You took my license. I'm like, dude, that's just a pain in the ass. Like, okay. It's 21 yet. You gave it sell that to someone. So, um, but no. So that was just my first night there, but since then, um, beautiful city, man, I love that place. It sort of reminds me to Boston in some ways. Oh, yeah. I mean, I do know everyone I know from Boston who's moved out there, like, fits in very well. Yeah. Yeah. Um, love it there. I intend to go back fully. Hopefully you guys will have a reunion again. Yes, we will in nine months. We'll get that done, but, um, I'm going to be out there regularly anyway to see some, see some pals. That's for sure. But anyhow, sorry to get sidetracked. I was in Cleveland, I ended up moving back, um, to Boston probably eight years ago. Okay. Something southy for a few years, bought a condo and doorchester for a few years, um, and then moved to Quincy. I live right by granite links now. I love it down there, bro. It's, um, next step is the Irish Riviera, AKA self-shorment. Yes, dude. It's, uh, you know, and it's funny. Josh Fire that's here on the trip. He's a North Shore or he's Easty, but he considers himself a North Shore guy and, um, that we don't talk at all. It's kind of true, man. I never go north of the city, north end. I go to, never, I was weak every other week, but I don't go beyond that really. Like, I was probably in my, yeah, I was playing my late, yeah, I'll go to Charlottesown, but like, actually to the north shore, I was probably in my 20s the first time I go up there. Yeah. I went up there and it's beautiful too. It is new, very, very important. The traffic is so bad in Boston. Very important things like that. Um, it's beautiful in our place. I didn't even know existed. I mean, I've driven through it to get to New Hampshire to Vermont. Yeah. To go skiing or whatever it is, but there are some beautiful beaches up there and whatnot, um, that I should probably explore a little bit more before I hate on the North Shore. Okay. Well, you've been exploring a lot on this trip. Yeah. Just rewind a bit. You grew up in Boston, so I'm sure you were always familiar with bar stool. When did bald stool first get on your radar? - Ooh, good question. Bald stool first. - Like when did you start taking like, you know what? If they did that again, that would love to be a part of it. - I had buddies that were just like, you gotta do this. - And I was like, all right, I'll give it a whirl. So I remember-- - I never always like the like, bald friend of your friend group. - No, not necessarily, it's funny. Like, it was kind of always in my mind something I stressed about, but not too much. I mean, but I saw, I watched it some while. - Were you insulted when like all your friends were like, you gotta go on this bald stool thing? - No, not at all, no. I was pretty ready to shave my head anyhow. - Yeah. - But then like as I started telling people that I was doing this, bunch of people were like, oh dude, you're not even that bald. Like, I don't even consider you a bald guy. I'm like dude, you see that like, you know? But, you know, saw for a season last year, that like, the results I think was when I really changed my mind. The reunion came out at the same time that I think the applications started rolling. - Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - And, you know, my buddies were just like, you gotta do this, you gotta do this. So I did it and put the application never thought. I didn't even, I told you I was gonna do like a sheepish Fenway Park, a national anthem, I'm gonna have somebody take my hat off real sheepishly and I was gonna be real creative about it. And I did, I kind of mailed it in. It was very generic. - You mailed it in, but I was like, all right, we need at least one mass hole on this trip. - And thank God. - And then another mass hole applied. And I was like, all right, we need two mass holes on this trip. - Yep. - But yeah, so that's how I got into it. I did not think I'd get picked. And once I got picked, I even still had doubts. You know, this is really, I serious doubts about all of this. I'm like, what am I doing? - Yeah. - What if this doesn't work? What if, what if I, I just had a lot of doubts. I'm so happy that I went. - Now, with your doubts, were they mainly related to the transplant? Or did you have any doubts about like Turkey, you know? - No. - I don't know too much about it. - Oh, I've always, no, that doesn't, you know. - So you've always enjoyed traveling? - Oh yeah, and I don't travel that often. And I wish I did. - Yeah. - I feel like when I had a significant other, I was traveling a whole lot more. Not traveling as much anymore. But I'm traveling as cities that I'm familiar with instead of places I'm not familiar with. - Okay. - Like where's the furthest place away from Boston that you've traveled? - Australia. So I lived in Sydney, or I've studied abroad in Sydney for like six or seven months. - Okay, and I feel like I've got mass holes in Australian bros, probably get along pretty well. - You know, there wasn't a lot of Australians in Sydney. It was mostly, it was like a melting pot. It was, - Okay. - We hung out with Irish dudes, the lads. We were, we were, - Okay. - Slogging pints with the lads, the majority of the time. - You know? - Irish guys, French, you know, people from Perth, people from Melbourne, but there wasn't, it seems odd, and we lived in a hostel, so that could be why. - Oh, yeah, yeah, that's probably the reason. - So, yeah. - Wait, you studied abroad and then lived in a hostel while abroad. - Yeah, this was crazy, man. We went out there and like, once we got there, me and three of my good friends went. Our credits didn't get approved, so we get there. And they're like, by the way, none of your academics are gonna transfer for this. - Oh, okay. - And we're like, what the fuck are we doing here? Like, should we go home? (laughing) - We sold our parents. - We already paid for the fun. - We went to war for us, and they talked to John Carroll, and they were like, you're giving them these credits, and they were like, all right, fine, we'll give them the credit. So we stayed out there. I tell you what, Sydney was great. It was just really expensive. I had a different outlook on what I was getting into. I wanted to go to Australia, 'cause I was thinking, oh, that back might. - Oh, yeah, yeah, you thought it would be like, a little kind of-- - Yeah, I'm thinking kangaroos, like-- - Like, lions, I think the lions are like-- - Definitely no lions. - No, definitely no lions in Australia. - I was idiot. - They got warm bats. But yeah, I mean, yeah, they got spiders and snakes, kangaroos and crocodiles, some warm bats, koalas with chlamydia, but you're not gonna find a lion. - No, I went there and I'd get into Sydney, and I'm basically just seeing homeless people on the side of the street and stuff, but I'm like, well, I thought this was like, it's just another city, and-- - Oh, and it's like a big city. - It's like there in New York. - Yeah, it's a proper house, amazing. I went and I don't know if you guys are finding Nemo fans. I personally went out of my way to go find P-Sherman 42-All-B-Way Sydney, and it does not exist, and that was devastating. - Oh my God. - Okay. - Yeah, Australia should lean into their finding Nemo. - You know what I mean? It's the way, almost one of them wanted me to go there. - But Australia's one of those places, it's like the furthest place you can travel to, but culturally, like most Australians, they like sports, drinking, and they're like, they're very-- - The goon. - Relatable people. - Yeah, the goon. - The goon bag. - Yes, that's-- - That's-- - That made me never want to drink wine again. It was, 'cause I was in college, and I've-- - I've bought it so expensive. - I've heard it so expensive. - Would you say Turkey though is the most culturally different place for sure? - For sure for sure. - Yeah. - I mean, and you arrived up. So what we did with this trip, we filmed a little prologue where I was like, if anyone can make it, we're going out like three days before the transplant to a place called Capodokia. When I invited you to Capodokia, did you have any idea what that was? - Dude, I had no clue. I texted someone and I was like, is this in Asia? Is this in Europe? I have no idea. - Yeah. - And when Sean, the Bug Man, had sent me the Airbnb with the hot air balloons, I'm like, is this dude out to lunch? Or what, I did not think he was looking in the right place. And it blew my mind. I was like, this is literally the view right outside your Airbnb. This place was not real life. It was like, the way I keep describing it is like a made up Call of Duty map. - A Call of Duty map? Like a planet in Star Wars? - It's crazy. - Tatooine, I think Sam called it. - And there's just dogs like roaming the streets, packs of them that are friendly and-- - Friendly dogs, yeah. - Yes. - So not like skinned? - No, no, no, like cute little dogs that I'm surprised people haven't popped in and taken home. - Yeah. - Yeah. We all wanted to take one home. - Yes. - The stray dogs are just huge and turkey and because they take such good care of them. So like, when I went to Puerto Rico, this girl was with picked up a stray dog and like she got ringworm up here on her top cleavage. She handed it to me and I was playing with it and then I got ringworm on my wrist and had to rub Vagicel. They were like, the only cure is Vagicel. So I was just-- - Going to buy that with a rubber yeast. - The fact she's bringing them. - They're raising their eyebrows. Looking at you, all right? - Yeah, yeah. But these dogs, yeah, you still don't want to pick up and cuddle, but they look clean. They're very friendly and all the locals put out food form every morning. And that's for cats too. Like in Istanbul, we haven't seen as many dogs, but there's cats all over the place. - All cats here. - Yeah, yeah. - All cats. I haven't seen one dog roaming the streets. There's just too many people I think, but yeah, the dogs in Capodotia or Doki, I still-- I don't know how to spell it. - I don't know how to say it. - And then still calls it Capodotia. - I think other guys call it Capodonna. I was like, I-- - You can see, I've stayed here for half a week and I still don't know what the name of it is or-- - So leading up to the trip, are you like, I'm gonna research this place, learn a little more from it. - No, no, you're just like, no. - I'm going, just going with the boys. - That's it. - All right, I'll try to explain it, but Capodotia. I mean, right now it's probably other than Istanbul, one of the most touristy places in Turkey. It's famous for its hot air balloons. It has an alien landscape, because there was a giant volcanic eruption there, maybe like a million years ago. And then like erosion over time has created these just insane rock formations. Some look like circumcised penises. - Yep, cockrocks. - Cockrocks, yep. - Okay. - And then some are just these giant, like just, I don't know how I would describe it. Almost like when you're making sandcastles as a kid, and just little sand drop, and so what I was thinking of is like, you ever go to like a cavern or a tavern where the stalagmites or whatever, or any of those. - Or any of those. - You can be turning upside down. - Yes. - And they're way bigger. - Yep. - It's like-- - Upside down, so I don't know. - Yeah, I don't know. - It's like a bizarre looking place. - Yeah, it's a bizarre looking place. - That's so cool. - It's super historical. It's insane. - Yeah. - If you, so some of the first Christians on earth were like living there, because obviously Jesus, apparently if you ask chaps, so Jesus didn't die on year zero. Or was year zero when Jesus was supposedly born? I don't know if that's accurate. But it took like hundreds of years for Christianity to actually spread. So we didn't start really seeing like the first like-- churches and widespread Christianity until like 300 AD and those like first churches were in Capitokia there was like a bunch of monks right there Pracks they were like the first documented some of the first documented cases of like okay Christianity is actually starting to spread people are practicing it and they would live in these underground cities there where like That part of Turkey. I mean it's been a battleground between empires for thousands and thousands of years Persians Romans Ottomans Assyrians Hitites Pretty much I'm almost like the Mongols every every empire has just run trained through there at some point So they were like all right when we get invaded The Muslim armies invaded it so They just built these giant cities underground and I think the biggest one was thought to have up to 20,000 people living underground And they did that so when there's like an invading army they could all just go underground close the doors with those big stones I don't think you were there for that part of the tour, but yeah close with big stones and then just Yeah, and then just wait for the army to just pass over them They wouldn't like see anybody and they would just they would just keep on moving. Yeah, that's those to me because I Yeah, I'm I slept through one of the tour yeah No, no tours after a night out No, no, that was they we did that before you arrived. Yeah, yeah Before you rock and I also had trouble understanding that the people telling us this information Yeah, Papadokia. Yes. Yeah, our our we had a tour garden, Papadokia like his English was not great And like Corey was always filming him talking. I was like Corey I think I think you can stop filming him talk. Yeah, not we're not getting a lot out of this That's I think if we just go on chat you be You ask the question, right? Even he was telling us about the cockrox first question was like this where circumcision was invented and I don't think he understood But he was just like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, okay Oh, hilarious first question. Yeah, but I'm all just a wild spot We didn't get to go hot air ballooning because the the weather was That's a bummer. We had a the weather was actually great our first morning But they still said no, I think maybe the winds were too high, but hot air ballooning is not something you really want to risk I don't think I was scared of that. Yeah, but you were gonna do it just like I joke to come to pressure everything They just got here. I'm not really willing Yeah, in a hot air balloon just yet a lot of happiness ahead of me and That would have been I mean they got now that I've seen like the way that those guys were on the ATV tours things like that They got it like I trust those guys. Yeah, yeah, and so I would have done it But yeah, do they give you like a parachute? Yeah, no, I think the hot air balloon is the parachute and that if that catches on fire Really what you tied into what when I did it in Africa I was roped into the one wrote like like I had like a harness on me This wrote oh, no, there's no harnesses here. I mean just you're just you're just in a basket Yeah, I just don't know why you wouldn't give like a little courtesy parachute just in case something goes wrong We use our balance here. Yeah, we've talked about this on the pod. There's a horrific video from Mexico the hot air balloon catches on fire and the guys like why don't want to burn alive? So we just starts like climbing down a rope Below the balloon and then you eventually can't hold on he longer in that was that recent one It was a couple months ago recent. Yeah, it was like a week after I went hot air ballooning in Mexico If I go out that way, it's like hey Yeah, I meant to go out I don't think there is a god. I don't think he like means for anyone to go out that way Because the guy you're just gonna joke about it. Yeah, great Maybe if that guy was was Hitler then yeah God meant for him to go out that way, but yes, that was Yeah, so we didn't get to go out air balloon, but yeah, I think it is one of the most unique landscapes like On earth that I've ever seen incredible I'll never see anything like that again and when I'm like Coming from the airport and the airport - you get off and they treat you I was joking. I was on the boss in Celtics. I was taking a video like I've never got off on the tarmac Oh, yeah, this is what it feels like to get off the PJ with the team But they just like let you get off and you can just roam the airport, you know wherever So that's a big thing abroad. I guess like in in China Yeah, they would drop you off on the tarmac a lot unless you're on like a fancy flight Like unless you're doing like New York to Shanghai a lot of times it was just like all right you guys are on the fucking Third tier flights We're just gonna drop you off on the tarmac and then you walk to a bus and go to the airport I've seen that in Europe - but yeah if you've spent most of your time in America that rarely happens And the airport was so small that when we went through security once You we would like went off to this side hallway. There's just another door out of the building right there In and out of the building with like one old fat guy sitting there watching the door the security's a little bit different there That's for sure the airport so small that white socks Dave did everything in his power to miss his flight And he just he couldn't do it like first off We were all in the van driving to the airport and We actually got out of our driveway of the hotel and someone's like where's white socks I said that it was me. Oh, it was you know, I wasn't thank me so if it wasn't for you There's a chance we would have just won alone them and I just took the cap of do Kia Fuckess white socks Dave. I thought that somebody said he like went earlier he left because he had something he had to do How did none of the bar still people we got me men's I mean men's isn't gonna notice that white socks Dave's gone But then we had three camera guys Three producers. Yeah, they just I Be he was actually white socks Dave was struggling with the jet lag a lot the first few days So he wasn't really talking a lot so maybe he was kind of blending into the background. He felt grumpy I remember I have a friend that's a big white socks Dave things like house white socks. They all my he's grumpy He's hell. Yeah, he was very grumpy now. It's rude. I'll say this. He was grumpy as hell now. He might be too happy He's the best and he's been awesome and I like it that was my first reaction though and that you're right It definitely was the jet lag, but he's been real cool. He's been great. So yeah So I knocking his door. He's not even packed. He had just woken up. So he finally gets packed He leaves a he left his weed vape in in the room and like the Airbnb Sends me a photo like oh, I think you guys left this and I'm like Dave of all things to leave in Turkey where we just Definitely highly illegal you leaves a and they're gonna hit this episode is dropping after After We'll be back in America so I can say that but he left his computer charger weed vape and then a photo of him on the ATV Those like 200 lira photos that you could buy and he meant to leave that but I don't think he meant to leave the weed pen They're definitely gonna hit that thing being like oh, okay, he left his vape Like that's what I'm thinking because like everyone in Turkey loves Nicotine and but the thing is vapes are hard to get here Yeah, and like I've bought him a vape out here. They charge a lot So they're probably gonna be like nicotine vape let's go and then just take a if you take a fat wrap out like rip out of that thing Those guys are gonna be fuck. Yeah, so 100% and they're definitely gonna do it I got to hang out with those guys Okay, this is a funny story. Yeah late night a couple nights when I got back from the bars me and a couple other guys But like I tend to just start chatting with whoever at any point on the way back to the room to buy a few more minutes And I see a few guys hanging out Outside the you know the what do you call it the concierge would ever the front desk? Yeah, so I start hanging with them We have a couple hoons whatever and then this one guy we went down hung out with you know Samie and what now we had a couple glass of wine the ones we bought down in the wine seller. Yes Yeah, yeah, yeah in 10 minutes and then he go and then he goes back up and he's like I'm gonna get us some some from this hotel stash like I hope I'm not getting in trouble my guy. I can't He's not watching this part But then he went and got the wine stash that supposed to be for like amenities for people that complain and We started ripping through that and then I was like I love this guy. So we did a Jersey swap at the end of the night I gave him my Long sleeve and I he gave me his vest and we took a picture together. I we have a picture of that Let's go like 3 a.m. We did a Jersey swap. So he was my guy. Did he break out a giant log of salami at some point? I did not see that strummy. Okay, we fed it up. We fed Barry. Oh, I remember that Yeah, yeah, that was funny Do you know the Turks loved their pastrami I guess yeah, yeah, those sandwiches in the airport the little slices the Oh, yeah, that was yeah, yeah, some like that. Yeah, that was great. I had that again to somewhere else Oh the omelets down here. Oh, yeah, little slices of like yeah, it's all pastrami. Maybe it's like a Turkish salami Yeah, but they like their cold cuts. Yeah Yeah, so then we we arrive at the airport on time and then we're all just waiting to board and like one of the staff comes up and he's like Is this any of your guys tickets and it's just white socks Dave take it just on like the floor of the airport? Yep floating around and then we're going through security and We get there he's like can I put three balls of wine through security and I was like no that needs to go in your checked bag And we're like heading on to the plane So he's like oh fuck and then has to run back and like get that bag checked, but when the airports like The airport was like might be smaller than the barstool Chicago office I would say yeah, it was like half the size of the barstool Chicago office He was just able to go and still made it on time. So I think that's why he was grumpy because the trips started off with like Mints was in the hot seat after the airplane photo. Yep You were not on that flight actually we might we might need like Sam to recap that very wait Sam Can you do a one-minute segment? Hopping on your mic on the flight heading to turkey is actually planned for me to sit next to mincee to document Whatever he got himself into on the flakes. We knew we knew that there'd be some content. We just didn't have an idea of what it would look like or how viral it ended up being. So I would say next to him in about like two, three hours into the flight, he's watching the Godfather and I'm trying to get some sleep. The scene in front of me is fully reclined. My seat, the button was broken so I couldn't lay down at all. And I put up the little seat dividers so I can like kind of get in a different little angle. So it takes me 30 minutes to get comfortable fall asleep. At this point, Mincy's still like sitting up right on camera if he was sleeping like upright or if he was actually just watching the Godfather, but I concoff. And then when I wake up and I look down and I just jump a little bit because Mincy's just on my lap. Like his head, like the back of his head is just on my leg. And I had a GoPro to film him and I immediately just grabbed the GoPro but he was sleeping on it. So I like sneak my hand under him, grab the GoPro and he like lifts head up like, "Ah!" and then like right once I grab it, he just goes right back to sleep and then I start filming him, get all the angles of him just sleeping. And that's also where I really noticed that he does have some pretty bad ball spots on the back of his head. So good thing he's getting the transplant. [BEEP] Today's episode of Drop of Pen is brought to you by our friends at NoBull. NoBull is a footwear brand built for training. It's a brand built for anyone who drives to be better every day. NoBull celebrates a noBull shit approach to wellness. It's about being a work in progress, embracing the constant evolution to being better. 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Have you ever seen that? What, the picture? Yeah, or no, have you ever seen someone do that on a flight? Not in that fashion. There was a lot of little details to that picture that could have been cleaned up, Mints. Yeah. A lot of Mints to Death. Feel as though he gets a bit of a bad rap, I understand it, I see it, but that was a tough moment. That was a tough moment. That was a tough moment of a client chair on Papa. He's lucky it was Papa behind him. Oh yeah, yeah. Because the client chair without even using it. Yes. That was a level. That was tough, but it was honestly, it was nice to like, you know, thanks to Mints, we got to start the trip off on a viral note. Yep. And that like helped alert people. All right, Baldsdol season two is filming. Yes. So there wasn't a single person in the Baldsdol universe that did not know we were currently filming in third. And you just got to have the awareness, Mints, you know, it's like, you know, I joke like in, in Madden, they used to have awareness rankings. I always say to people, I got a 99 awareness. I know what's going on. Yeah. Mints, he could use a little more awareness. He's probably a one or two awareness. Yes. He just needs a little more awareness. That's all for sure. Yeah. But an awesome guy. Nonetheless, he's been very, I told him I had some buddies that really wanted to meet him. He's like, let's face time him right now or, you know, always willing to do that. He's like, I got a whole bunch of cameos. I got to rip through, but he still took the time to do that. Great guy. I had a good time with Mints. Hey, his biggest hater, Brandon Walker recently said he's got a good heart. He does. And I believe that that's true. Means well, just execution is the problem. Now, Capodokia was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. And it was during their like tourist off season. So we weren't like surrounded by crowds of people and stuff. It's a pretty like small town relatively, especially in the off season. They do have some sick KVOTELs though. That's the one thing I'll do when I go back. I was like, if I can find something cheap enough with enough rooms, I can just like pay for all the stuolies that are coming to. But they've got some like KVOTELs built into those crazy looking mountains. But they're probably like at like 500 bucks a night or something. Yeah. Now let's just like all stay in the same place, nice and like, and so it would be a lot easier to organize. So if I go back, yeah, want to stay in a KVOTEL, I did the hot air ballooning once. But I would do it again. It's cool. It's fun. I mean, based off how windy when we took the ATVs up to the top of that hill, we were almost blowing off the ledge. I cannot imagine that like getting in the hot air. And the whole lot of stuff would happen. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Kappadocia in the summertime because there was a lot of places that had great vibes. They're just weren't people. Yes. And a lot of outdoor seating. And I'll tell you what, man, there were some good looking women there. There was not a lot of women in general, but the women that I saw were good looking. Like, I bet that place is crawling in the summertime. I would love to see it again. And the summertime is probably also like crawling with the influencer type. Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm technically an influencer too. Sure. I mean, I'm not sure. But then we travel from Kappadocia to Istanbul and like, Istanbul. And I think that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do a little bit of a tour. I'm going to do a tour. and I was like, it is kind of both. And it turns out it quite literally is split down the middle in both. - It is both, it is both. Which is interesting. - Did you know it used to be Constantinople? - You know, there was this song when I was a kid that people would sing on Ishtenbo Constantinople. - Constantinople, it's 'cause. - That is the only way. So, you know, that's, no, some answers, no. (laughs) - Dude, yeah. And it cancer too, as well. Or no, my cancer, I was walking around with him on the walking tour. Like the first fact I dropped, I was like, oh, this was the historic harbor of Constantinople. And he was like, we're in Constantinople right now. And that was like, yeah, dude, this was Constantinople. But other than that, like, what were the vibes of the city for you at first? Like, how did it, would you compare it to any place that you've been to in America or around the world? - That is a good question. - There were someone on the stream last night and was in the chat. - 'Cause it does, and I'm trying to think of what it was. Like, it's like the alley. So it kind of reminds me, I've never been to Bangkok, but like the movies are like the hangover, for example, they like the alleyways that are really busy and there's people eating, there's animals running around. Like, it kind of looks like that. But it's a little less crowded than that. - It is very crowded though. - It is jumpin though. What blew my mind was when we went out the other night, we probably got back at 3 a.m. and when we're walking home, people like couples are sitting down at restaurants, the way it looked in COVID in America. And they're like ordering appetizers, gettin' drinks at 3 in the morning as if it was 7.30 at night. You know? - Yes. - They just, there's like nobody intended to go home anytime soon. And it was a controlled chaos. Like obviously us and knuckleheads were running around to chant and, you know. - Yeah, now we were the, my last memory of that night was everyone going, "Want, don, don, don." "Want, don, don." While like a Turkish guy shoved muscles down, I threw it. - Yeah, that was great though. I tried one and they were very good. - They are good. - And I had an anchovy for the first time at that moment. - Let's go. Now, are you like a Dana Beers type of guy where you haven't tried a lot of foods? - Well, maybe, I hope not. Or there's nothing against Dana Beers, I don't mean it that way, but. - So I'm not a picky eater. I used to be, but I'm not anymore. I would just say the one thing. And Dana Beers, I've actually loved his, putting out like the cottage cheese, cottage cheese on his, changed my life. I love cottage cheese. Now I put it on everything. I house like a tub of that a week, just for off of his, he should be sponsored by, no, but I've been loving those. - He's sponsored by big cottage cheese. - There are some things on there that I'm like, a lobster roll dude. And even like, it's a lobster roll, someone's not from coastal mass of cheeses. Then I'll be like, oh, he's on the lobsters. - Sure, the guy's from coastal mass. - Right. And I think people think he's putting on a stick. I don't at all. That's his, no, no, no, he's not. - He's not. - He's not. So no, I definitely feel like I tried more foods, but then at the same time, as he's going through some of these videos, I was like, I haven't tried that. I haven't tried that. And I'm like, I don't really consider myself somebody that's not open to things. I'll try anything that's put in front of me. But. - Have you ever had a bon mi before? - Oh, I've been meaning to talk to you about this. No, and I lived in Dorchester for a long time. - That's the first place I ever had a bon mi. - Had a bon mi. - Had a bon mi. - I have a screenshot of the one that you commented, the best one, or something. - I did. - Because the one I gave to Dana Beers was the worst bon mi of my life. So I did a great-- - I don't think I'm gonna like, I keep seeing. I would think you're like, they have like five different types of bon mi. - They're probably of 20 different types. It looks so like-- - Not appetizing. It looks like a salad sub that-- - That's because I got the cold cut version. You can get like, awesome barbecue beef in a bon mi. - Yeah, yeah. - You can get a barbecue beef bon mi. You can get a barbecue pork bon mi. - I have a barbecue pork bon mi. - Yeah, I have a bon mi places everywhere around me. And I never tried. I've been meaning to, and I-- - My older brother used to live in Dorchester and the first time I came, he's like, you know there's a spot down the street. You get like the best $3 sandwich where you're like-- - I gotta do that. - It was three bars for no reason. - I'm going, yeah. I fully intend to do that. I just, I need more meat in there, man. I've seen the pictures and it's like carrot and celery or something. - There's, yeah. - Cucumber. - So there's pickled radish. There's cucumber and dainty beers. One, there's pickled carrots. Maybe something little cabbage, but then there's like pate and then pork. Yeah, you gotta get the ones with like roast pork or pork belly or something. Don't knock it to you, try it. - Oh, I mean, I'm-- - I'm totally there, it's just horrendous. - And I don't even mind if I don't like something because I want to know. I said this to Sammy the other night. We went to get McDonald's. I love McDonald's, by the way. I just, I know it's terrible for you, but it's just so delicious. We went, I was like, Sammy, I gotta try the McDonald's here. I like, there's gotta be some different menu items. And it's stunk. I hated it. - Really? - There's two consistence, the Coca-Cola, which makes sense 'cause they get them in these barrels like that common bulk and they have, they somehow contains the flavor with McDonald's worldwide. And then the double cheeseburger, that's my favorite fast food item, not a McDonald's, a double cheeseburger. There's an extra slice of cheese that gets added on there. - That's good to know. - It's massive difference once you go double cheese, you don't go back. - Oh, so a McDouble is just two burgers, one slice of cheese? - Exactly, you want to add that? - Oh, you need two slices. - Exactly, and it's a little bit more, you know, probably a couple bucks, but another key too is that this is a cold slice of cheese that they're putting on there. So when they wrap it, you gotta give it a few minutes to let that cheese melt. But anyhow, got a double cheeseburger at the McDonald's here, it was just the same. And that pumped me up. But then I ordered like a McChicken, the patty was not the same. It was like air fryer almost instead of, you know, probably. So I think our hypothesis was that they were trying to be healthy, there was no salt on the fries. There was, the chicken tenders were hardly seasoned kind of. - Okay. - You know, but I think you were upset with the McChrispy. - Yeah. - And did they have any like unique items you've never seen? - They had a pop, not a kabob, but it was like a wrap of some sort. - No, they had McWings, which were like, they looked like almost like a KFC drumstick. - Yeah, they had those in China too. - And they weren't bad at all. - There was one other sandwich. I actually have a picture. They had a triple big Mac or a double big Mac, which we had at one point, but they had something else. Nothing crazy though, that blew my mind. I was a little bummed about that, 'cause I had heard that like Italy has some awesome McDonald's and stuff. - Yes, I would say McDonald's is the most consistent fast food chain around the world, where it's like, it's always gonna taste similar, like most of the time, and always be decent enough. Burger King has a lot of variety. They got peaks and valleys. Carl's Jr, aka Hardies, I had one of those burgers in China who was like 30 times better than a Carl's Jr in the US. - So Carl's Jr is one of the ones that does like the Hardies and the Carl's Jr. - Yeah, yeah. - With the same thing. - It's the same company. - So I was saying, I don't know if you heard me in the cab one of these days, but Burger King, when I was in Australia, it's called Hungry Jax. And it's the exact same logo, exact same menu, whopper, everything, but it says Hungry Jax. - You're teaching me something here. - Yeah, there you go. - I never knew Burger King was called Hungry Jax in Australia. - It is, literally. - Okay. - exact same logo, exact same menu. - Yeah. - And it's just Hungry Jax instead, which is interesting. - While we're on the topic of food, we gotta talk Monti, Turkish Ravioli. - Oh. - Is that one of your favorite, is that one of your favorite? - That was incredible. - Have you had it since, though? - No. - Oh, good, I just don't know that. - That first meal that night was so good. Like the lamb lollipops, it was like best version of a lamb lollipop you could have. This Turkish Ravioli was almost, it wasn't even, Ravioli isn't the word I would use, because it doesn't look like Ravioli. - A tortellini, maybe? - Yes, tortellini, like a smaller tortures. - It looks like Tartus shaped tortellinis. And it was in like almost like a vodka sauce, or like a marinara and a vodka. - Yeah, they put it, it's in some sort of cream sauce. - Dude, I don't know what-- - I don't know what it was like. - Sam, can you look at what type of sauce they usually put the Monti? - In the texture, it's like, nokey. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - I think it's so bad. - I think Turkish and Yaki, but yeah, it was filled with probably a little bit of lamb or like a little bit of beef, definitely not pork. Yeah, I'm actually so good. - I have failed as a tour guide if we've only had Turkish Ravioli's once on this trip. - Maybe they got 'em, maybe they got 'em a dinner tonight. - Okay, you know what they do. - If it's a Turkish restaurant up there, yeah. - The Monti is made by whisking cold butter into barely simmering water. - So it's like, wait, is that how they make the dough? I'm wondering, they put a sauce on it usually. It's kind of like a white sauce that they put on it. Is that just like a butter sauce? - That's what it, yeah, it's-- - It's a water butter sauce, I don't know, but-- - I love it, well it's excellent. - Yeah, whatever that is. - Yeah, yeah, that was great. And then you went to a kabab shop here that was Anthony Bourdain's favorite Kabab shop here. It's obviously become very touristy. And like after it was featured on a show, they just got photos of 'em all over the place. But it's like, I haven't had a lot of Kababs here, but I think that's the best I've had so far. - Yeah, so I had a different idea of what the Kabab was gonna be. I keep going back to Australia, but Kababs are huge there. It's like-- - It's the top drunk food. - It's-- - In most countries. - Yeah, and it's like a big open-faced burrito. Same thing, it's just a different version of it. Or sometimes it's usually in like a pita pocket if you're in Australia. - Yes, it's an excellent idea. - Yeah, so that's more-- - Yeah, huge. - And they're like, there's like yogurt sauce and-- - Those are very good, too. - It's a slam or chicken or-- - Yeah, yes. - And those are awesome, dude. And I was kind of expecting that, and these ones were a little bit different. - Yeah, that was the-- - It's a wrap. - It's a wrap, tighter. - Yeah, it was like in Adana Kabab, but I think it's just Turkey does their Kababs a little bit different, but I've seen plenty of places here where you can get the pita. - Yeah. - You can get the pita version, Bob. - And the Adana was good. - I don't know if it should be Anthony Bourdain's favorite of anything. - I think, you know, Anthony Bourdain-- - I'm sure he had a great Kabab that he'd probably filmed that episode like, I don't even know, but it must have been my-- - It must have been my-- - 15 years ago, but at the same time-- - And it's a great Kabab, but it's like when you're him, you have so much power. So he probably just like mentioned like, "Hey, this was like a great Kabab ahead in Turkey." And then they've-- probably just been swamped for that. - That's good, yeah. - 10 years. Sometimes the quality starts like after you become that well known, that touristy, the quality starts to dip a little bit. - Yep. - But yeah, no, I personally enjoyed it. I like, on these trips, these trips get so busy. And like, I'm always like, all right, I wanna like take some time for myself to go find like a great restaurant. I've never tried, look up reviews. Like, Mince has just been looking up the reviews, find the best place they eat. Even if it means costing them his hair transplant. - Yeah, I do, the Mince, so we went to this, and I think you might have mentioned this already, we went to this Chinese place. - Oh, dude, that was-- - And you posted a video of Mince and how upset he gets about food, that is 100% factual. I've seen it a couple times on this trip. - Yeah, there was one person being like, "Yo, in that video, you asked him to pose." Like, this is no stage. - No, I was sitting right next to you. - I was like, "No, he was completely quiet for like 25 minutes." I was like, "All right, we've finally got to get a documentation of this." 'Cause he hasn't said a word. - He got up, I mean, and to his, in his defense, he was sort of, you know, unacceptable, but we were sitting there for, it's a nice restaurant. There wasn't a ton of people around. We had our own server. He didn't come over to us for like 20, 25 minutes and even get us waters or anything. - Yeah, the service was horrible. - So, and this guy was new. I want to cut him some slack. 'Cause I could just tell he didn't know what the hell was going on. He was giving us eight bills, it was crazy, but Mince got frustrated right away. And he gets up and kind of storms off, and he's like, "Hey, we get some waters?" Like, he said it like aggressively, you know? And to be fair, like, we had waited long enough to the point where even if I was in the US, like I might go up and just like check in from the waiter and see what's going on, but so that, like, it didn't start the meal off on a good note. - It was a right, it was a right and a wrong way to go about that kind of thing. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - 'Cause we got some waters in it. - Yes. - The guy was like, "Okay." And then he was just off the rest of the night. Mince, he was like-- - And then, yeah. - He just like, you know, bad mood, rest of the night, and then a couple days later, we're down, getting an omelette in the morning, remember the two egg omelette? - Yes. - And he's like, "Hey, and he ordered right before me, so I felt bad 'cause I feel like I threw off the guy." - You got the eggs first. - But I got an omelette. He just asked for eggs. And I asked for a chicken omelette or sausage omelette. The sausage omelette came out and they kind of just never made his eggs. He was like, "Hey, eggs?" - Yeah, he wasn't happy about that. - And the guy was totally not understanding. He's like, "Yeah, you can get eggs here." He's like, "I ordered eggs." And he was pissed off the rest of breakfast, man. Don't mess with that guy's food. - No, and he wanted to order the duck. And I was like, we're in the middle of Turkey. At first off, we shouldn't have been at a Chinese restaurant there. I don't really know. It looked really cool. And I was like, "Good vibe." - I was like, "Yeah, I'll check that out." - It was like the PF Changs of Turkey, but not a chain. I think this was an OG 101. - We'll play a pop call that one, he wanted that. - Yeah, yeah, we can play a pop. It was called Quick China. Actually, a lot of the food was good, but men's wanted to get the duck. And it was the most expensive thing on the menu. So I'm thinking, is this gonna be Peking duck, which I haven't had in forever. I don't know if you've ever had that, but it's-- - Have Peking Ravioli. - Dude, that's a Boston staple. Do you know that they only call that? They only call it Peking Ravioli in Boston. - Aren't they just dumplings? - Yeah, it's just a dumpling. But it's only Massachusetts. - I'd be only Massachusetts. And maybe New England that calls it Peking Ravioli. - So Quincy is known for his Chinese food. - Quincy's got the best American Chinese I've had. - Dude, and this new place called Shanghai Soup Dumblings, it's the best dumpling. - Oh, so they've got authentic. - It's in the back of a quickie mark. - It's like you go to the back of it and they got their own little shop back there. And I've been ordering that constantly getting wonton soup, getting dumplings, fried dumplings, soup dumplings, and they're incredible, bro. Like if I'm hungover on a Sunday, my go-to. - People always ask me 'cause I'm like a mascot who lived in China so long, they're like, where's the best Chinese food in Boston? And I'm probably like, you probably have to go to Quincy. - They'll say, "Can I wish my food?" - I know a lot of people want to say, Caloo. - So I'm a self-sour guy, so like, I've never been to Caloo before. Which is crazy, it's like, but I'm not gonna like, drive down Route 1, get absolutely bombed. - Now, Caloo and then drive home. - No, Caloo is like a more of a joke birthday party type thing. - I gotta go get drunk, I'm not doing much else. - I'm sure Caloo and I have some solid crab rangoons though. - Yeah. - It seems like the type of place that would. - Yeah, it's a lot. - But yeah, so it wasn't a peaking duck, it was just a duck. I don't know what to call it. And yeah, it did not live up to its standards. I tried to tell 'em. - It looked really good though. It was okay for a duck. I do like duck, but it didn't meet mency standards. And then he just went hell in Keller mode for, maybe over half hour, just normally he's a pretty talkative guy. - Yeah. - Yeah, he's up. - I would call him very bubbly and he was just mute. And just staring at it, being like, why the fuck did I order that duck? - I still don't think, this is funny. I still don't think men's knows my name. I've been with them for a week and a half. And we've been talking like a bunch. And I just every time I go to him, he's like, hey, what's up? It kinda just stops. I'm like, that's all right. You know? It's okay. - This was, I mean, we like, yeah. There's 23, the thing is, we were with, like, you were part of the crew. We had seven stools arrive in Capitokia, hang out with us. So, yeah, it's, no excuse to not know their names. I think I got everyone's name down as of now, but-- - Yeah, I think I have everyone in the entire group. - Yeah. - I've been getting along with the other folks that-- - Absolutely. - Yeah, yeah. I'm like, I can't believe this. I've got some lifelong friends that I'm making here. Like, you know, I think Dave was like, I'm so happy you met Dougie. I'm like, Dougie's the shit. He's the man. - Yeah. - I'm trying to think of guys Papa. What a great guy. Like, and you guys obviously, but I'm saying other guys, like other stools. - I had no idea. I feel like everyone on this trip was at least found one other person that they can really connect to over 100%. - 100%. - 100%. There was no one here that's bumming anybody out or anything. - Yeah. - And I mentioned this in the speech, but like, I teared up a little bit when he first said it and he was like, hey, 2025 was rough for me. I lost the sibling. I met someone else on this trip. - I heard that. - That lost a loved one and like, it made me feel a lot better. Like, just-- - I heard him say that at the clinic today and I was like, wow, you know, that's a different perspective. - Yeah, just to be able to talk to someone about it. So, yeah. - It was cool too. That's not something I really like saw coming out of a bunch of dudes getting hair transplant. - No, but no, everyone's been awesome. Like, this has been such a treat, man. Like, I think you got, couldn't thank you guys enough. It's just, again, I had a lot of doubts. I really did. - Now, speaking of your doubts, I'm sure a lot of people are tuning in being like, I'm balding too. I gotta hear what the hair transplant was like, especially because you look like this. Like, you're-- - Dude, I can't believe fresh out the transplant, right? - I can't believe I'm on my first podcast here and this is what I look like. - Yeah, I'm horrible. - I don't know, in terms of like the bald guys, you can probably pull it off the best. I've seen so far. - I guess that's nice to hear now that I've gotten hair put back on my head, but-- - Like, if you were completely clean shaving down here, you might look a little weird, but the fact that you got like the beard going, I didn't know where it works. - Yeah, I would agree. And I'd actually never shave my head. I wish I did. Like, I've gone down to a one and stuff like that, but I never, and I was on the cusp of it. But to get into the surgery a little bit, so in the beginning, right? Estinove was awesome about communication, transportation, all that stuff. And then you get in there, you're welcome. They lay everything out for you. They kind of roll out the red carpet, really. You get in this van on the way in there. It looks like the Maybach, a meek mill and brick rostis car. Like, is that the lights and everything, the TV in there? But you get to the clinic and they do blood tests, things like that. They, then they do the consultation. And I'm like, talking to the guy about the consultation, I'm like, this is the biggest moment of my life right now. Do you understand that? Like, we gotta get this right. So I'm talking to him. I'm showing him old pictures of me and I'm like, I don't wanna look like I did like 15 years, but I wanna look like I did like five years ago, or six years ago, so that looks natural. And he did a great job making one. Like, you could see here, I did one that's like, it's how I looked, you know, six, seven years ago. - Yep. - And it comes down to a point in the front. It's jagged, so it looks normal. Like, we went through all of that. But then when you get into the actual procedure room, first thing they do man is they put those shots in your head. This is been the talk of the. - Well, 'cause like, there's been just like, quite a discrepancy between people's experiences. Like, shout out, Dougie, he's got a podcast. We'll put it out, we'll put in a little plug right here. - Yeah. - Chicago Sports Bums podcast, I think. - He said it was a two out of 10. - There was a hilarious time when you walked out to go to the bathroom and you're like, I was like, how are you doing? You're like, we're in the third period now. It's gonna be okay. And like a lady who works for a estenobia, I don't think hockey's popular here. She was like, what's the third period? - I said, I had to do it like that. I was like, well, it's the last period of a hockey game. She was like, oh, okay. - Yeah, I came out between the second of the third to drop some heat. That was crazy. - Oh, really? - Man, and they thought, they must have thought I passed out in there, 'cause they were like, knocking on the door when I was leaving. I'm like, oh, no, I just needed a couple of minutes, man. I'm all right. Just, they must have had to eat for themselves. - Patty went out in the, between the second and third period and went in the woman's bathroom. And at first, I was like, I haven't actually seen any chicks coming in for transplant. So like, yeah, just use the woman's bathroom. It's fine. And then I looked around and I was like, oh, yeah, half the staff are female. - You know, the every minute. - And there was like a lady trying to get in. I was like, I'm really sorry, but my male friend is in there right now. So you're just gonna wanna wait a little bit. - Yep, and, but anyhow, so the shots that, you're good for a while after the shots. I was fine. I was chilling. I took a nap, you know, 'cause they're harvesting. They're pulling. A lot of people get this confused with these hair transplant. They think it's like, I wouldn't call them hair plugs. Hair plugs were like fake hairs. Like, I think Joe Buck, I always use him as an example. He got like fake hairs put in. Didn't he like, really? Those are plugs. I've been so confused by this. There's implants out of the plants. We got it, we got it. Yeah, we might need to look that up. I don't know about that. Our hair plugs the same as a hair transplant. 'Cause my understanding is plugs are like an implant. Like there's implants and transplants. Sam, can you look that up actually and we'll get back to it once you know how to do it? But any answer. So, what they're doing for the people that don't know how it works, they pull live active follicles out of the back inside of your head. That's what you see as nasty yellow shit on me. That's your donor area. Is there a way for you to show the camera that? I don't really know. Yeah, no. Okay, wait, so is this your entire donor? It's a horseshoe. Yeah, so it's all the way back here. Yeah, it's a horseshoe. Yeah, kind of lay on your stomach and then your side and your side. I thought it was only your lower neck, no. No, it's your entire back. Yeah, it's your donor here. Well, they pulled 5,000 from mine. They were like, hey, 5,000, that's a good number. I was like, that's a great number. I mean, that's right. Some people, they're like, you know, when they want to transplant the like your donor hair area isn't very strong. So I don't know if we're able to get full coverage. I mean, with how you look before and the fact you got 5,000 means like, you're going to come in thick. Yeah, so that's a, so that's the hope. But the wild part about this is that when they pull those out, they just regrow. Like, they're pulling the root, the active follicle and they're placing them on top of your head instead. So that now, after this, you know, a couple months of ugly duckling phase happens, it'll just start regrowing thicker and thicker, the way it did on the back and sides here. And when you think about it, like, somebody goes bald, they get that, you know, they lose their top. So your hair's on the back and side, art stronger. Yes, yeah, yeah, sure. The idea is that it all comes in together at some point. But the part that blew my mind was that these will just grow back normally after pulling their, you know, God, given root out, I think they're well. I'm very confident in that. Yeah. Pat, do you have an answer on plugs? So hair plugs are a form of hair transplant, but the actual hair transplant is a much more involved process. So hair plugs are a hair transplant, but the way that we're talking about hair transplant, it's different. I feel like I feel like I already knew that. We didn't. That's why I'm, that's why I'm finding online. It's just confirmed, but it's confirmed our suspicions. It confirmed our suspicions. So if I, I'm just gonna ask my questions, is it like, is it fake hairs? Is it, yeah, is it like, 'cause that's, I almost thought hair plugs were like hair extensions. You know how girls will like add like hair extensions on there? I think of a hair plug as like an implant, which is like not from somewhere that you already have. And the transplant is moving something you already have to somewhere else. I don't know. Okay, this is, I gotta get to the bottom of this, 'cause I've been actually asking about. Also, I made like a joke. It's not like a super tasteful joke, but it is kind of a funny pun is, I don't think I came up with this. Someone commented on one of my vids and they were like, your Harriet Plugman and the Underground Hair Road. (laughing) I'm just bringing all these balls from America here. That is good. Harriet Plugman. Okay, so hair plugs were the precursor to what you got now. So it was just a slightly more primitive method, 'cause hair plugs were first developed in the 1950s. The method that you got, I don't think really came about until, so surgeons would like remove the actual skin. So the hair plug process involves moving large round sections of skin, usually around four millimeters in diameter and implanting them across the bald areas of the scalp. 'Cause I think even if I removed some of your skin from your donor area, the skin would grow back too, and the hair, and then they would just put that skin up top. That's crazy. Now they have the technology to actually take out the hair. So hair plugs are real. There's nothing where they're put in a fake. It's still real, yeah, yeah. There is no fake. I thought like Joe Buck was saying he couldn't get his hair wet or something like that, 'cause he had fake hairs in. I could be making this up. Maybe, 'cause he said Joe Buck also said he was addicted to hair transplant. So maybe he had just recently got another hair transplant, 'cause I think he's gotten a lot. Yep. But anyhow, back to the procedure. So I was good after the shots. I'm good for a while, I'm taking naps. It is bizarre that they don't let you go on your phone or watch a TV or anything, 'cause they cover your eyes, 'cause they need lights right in your face. Okay. I feel like I had one guy from season one. Definitely. Maybe Ken Jack, who's like, he like, binge a TV show. I downloaded the whole first season of "Band of Brothers." I was ready to roll. It was like the same amount of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As the procedure, and I wasn't able to do it, I was really bummed about that, but I gotta tell you my guy that was doing mine. He played his Spotify radio. And it was excellent. It was excellent. Shout out to him. I don't know his name, but. Was it only Turkish music or was it a. No, it was our music. Really? Okay. So I'm a little confused by that. And I don't mean to sound ignorant, but just traveling in general. How many people don't speak English at all? But they listen to music that is in English, and they watch out of some movies that are in English. Like, definitely the music thing is for sure. Like, I would say the top 50 songs that are in America, you'll also get a good chance you might hear them in a club like wherever you go in the world. And sometimes like a country might be like, a little like five years ahead. Sometimes they might have slightly different tastes, but that is just a little different. And that is one of the things. America's biggest export at this point is probably pop culture. And like, the biggest pop stars in America, they're gonna be Plannum and Asia. Yeah. They're gonna be Plannum in Europe. But also, there's so many pop stars from Europe these days too. Especially the UK. I feel like every. The UK's got like probably half the biggest pop stars, half the biggest actors. But no, that should get to import all over the place. Like, even in China, you'll hear American pop music. And then some American movies are approved for China, which will actually come out in the theaters there. Some are not approved, but people can still find the bootleg and stuff. I guess I was surprised that maybe that's very arrogant of me to be like, oh, I don't know English. I don't know. I think it's like, there is. Like, that's why, you know, like you can enjoy a bad bunny song if you don't know Spanish. Yeah, true. Right. There were, I didn't know who bad bunny was until I went to Colombia. And it was the only music being played. I believe it. And yeah, I actually, I started to enjoy it by the end of that trip. I don't, and like, regatone music, regatone, not the biggest fan. I'm probably really upsetting a lot of my Puerto Rican fans. That the junkie. But the, the regatone's always got the same beat. The boom. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I feel like bad bunny mixes it up. I wouldn't call him regatone, but I do think pop music is designed to be enjoyed, whether you understand the lyrics or not. It's just something that like, let's probably like, they probably got people to lab being like, what's gonna like get people addicted to this song? And a lot of the times it works. Yeah, absolutely. Now, Hugh, so after you got your transplant, which probably once the anesthesia was done, was it like, it's different for everybody. Don't be discouraged. Like, there's so much, and by the way, like the idea here is something so much greater than these fucking shots. Like, there's only, yeah, my loudest wear, sorry. Yes, yeah, yeah. Okay. But, yeah, don't be discouraged. It's different for everybody. And like, the idea is a long-term goal here. And that those shots only last a couple of minutes. And then it's last for the rest of your life. Yes. And then you had to get the, you like, walked out of the clinic the first day, covered in bandages on the back of your head, just on the donor area. That's where they took out all the hair. But this morning you went in and you got your hair washed and the bandages off. How'd that feel? Reborn. Rebirth. That's how that felt. 'Cause I was hurtin' last night. You got to sleep at a 45 degree angle for a little bit, which sucks. Yeah. It's not, but anyway, I went back in. They took the bandages off. It was just really sensitive. So they used cold water and ran it down back in my head. That was the coldest feeling of water I've ever felt in my life on my head. But he's kinda doin' a little massage up there. And right after that, it just, how I felt. Like, I was hurting 24 hours ago, really pretty bad. Yup. And now I'm like, back good to go. Just needed that. Just needed that. And that foam is gonna be a godsend the next couple weeks. I think it starts to etch a little bit, but you put on the foam and you feel a million times better. Yup. Exactly right. Yeah, so shout out Estanovae. And yeah, shout out all the stool. It's like, it wasn't like, I'm beat, but that's just like, I've gotten like three hours of sleep the last three nights. You've been a trooper, that's for sure. In a row. I feel like, but that's like, I could probably fix that. It's like, I don't necessarily need to be up as late as I am. I like fucking, oh, it's still not even raining. I like, we were supposed to do a live stream tonight. And I was like, we got to move it to Monday night because it's gonna be pouring on Tuesday. So like, Monday night was gonna be my recharge night. And then we go out and we do a stream. And I ended up pouring on Monday night instead. And we just do a stream going from Europe to Asia. And after the first half hour, just to rental downpours and we're walking down the steepest hill all time, I almost thought I'd lost Sam Goldfinger. Like, he's young. - Yes, stay close. - Stay close. - He's young, so he's okay, but the way his knee bent, he slipped on the rocks and his knee twisted in a way, it's not supposed to twist. And then he just bounced back up. - Are you okay? I did just notice you limping. Are you okay? - Okay, okay. - Yeah, so we're gonna need an MRI when we get back. - That happens. - Any of the 30 year olds on this trip, you would have torn so many muscles and knees, but he's young. And he's like, He's fucking gumby. Yeah, fucking bounce back up. He was like, oh, no, no, I'm fine. And I was like, all right, we need to get off this fucking hill. Cause Istanbul is steep. People don't know similar to Rome. Rome was built on seven hills. So I think when they built Constantinople, which they called New Rome, they also built it on seven hills. So we're at the top of the hill right now and they get down to the water. You gotta go down a hill. How long have we been going for? Just say, hour 10. Hour 10? All right, cool. If you have any other like final thoughts on Istanbul, look, how do I, can you fill me in here? Am I swelling up? I think today, my head is not usually this big by the way. It's all swollen, but. Oh yeah, well, as I said, as like a ball got, you're pulling it off and like half the guy still had the bandages on. So like, right. So relatively for the people that have received a procedure, you look today's the swelling day though. It's just like I went and laid down right after I got back from the wash and they like kind of, the liquid in my head kind of pulled in the back. I got up and I could say like an egg head in the back. Oh yeah, yeah, you're feeling that if I wasn't laying like that, it could all be right here right now. So I don't know. Yeah, we think that's what happened to smokes. Like maybe he slept the wrong way because on his flight home, his whole face ballooned up, but you don't look nearly as bad as him. That's good to hear. I was worried about men's for a while. We're still trying to get to the bottom of what happened to him because you know, as you like, he went for, like, he came home after his surgery. He saw some great Yelp reviews for this pizza place nearby. There is like an Uber Eats app in Turkey that you can probably just find that place, get it delivered. But he was like, yeah, it's like a, you know, five minute walk. I'm just gonna go. And he gets there and just, I think he's walking home with the pizza and starts to wrenchfully downpouring. And when he got back in, he was like, I put a towel over my head. Like it's fine, it's fine. And then today I was like, I asked him, I was like, well, why did you have a towel on you? He's like, I didn't, I just, I found a towel and I put it over my head. I was like, where's your fine towel? And he was like, there was just five, five towels hanging up. And he still have no idea where he could, I think he just like stole some of the towel. But then he was holding a pizza box. So I assume he just had like a balled up towel in one hand, pizza box in the other hand. And I was like, I don't know, that is gonna do much. So I mean, either he's just like stole someone's towel or-- - When he says holding the towel. - Was he holding like above his head? Or was it-- - No, because he had-- - No, because he had one hand holding the pizza box. So he for sure wasn't like just holding it spread across his head. - I didn't know if he had-- - So he put the towel on his head. - No, no, he says he didn't put it on the head. I think he balled up a towel and just had it over his head. - I-- - Which is ineffective, by the way. - Just not-- - You know what doesn't make much sense? I might, tomorrow at some point, when I'm with men's, I'm gonna like hand him a towel and be like, just show me exactly what you did. 'Cause I can't even like visualize what he did. So he got a little wet. He went back to the clinic. A couple of his hair graphs had come out, but the doctor was able to just like push him back in. So I think he's gonna get hot in 2026. - Yeah, I think so too. And I'll say this about bald stool man. I feel like this is taking off into something like spectacular. I know that it isn't already. - Yeah, no, no. - I'm thinking the amount of guys that we had, I don't know, I'm not saying one was like lame by any means, but this looked like there was more people. - Oh, way more. - I don't know, it seemed very rowdy. I just feel like I've seen an uptick and people being like, I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go. And for sure. - It's gonna evolve. And like, I think you're gonna start getting some guys like Shane Lackin. - Shane Lackin. - To get him. - Shane Lackin. Shout out to FNs. - Yeah, shout out to FFs. I've devastated, I can't go to that game tomorrow. Shane, it's not 'cause of you, I gotta fly out of here. - If you have like a t-shirt, I can ask him to sign it or something. Or maybe I'll just get a photo of you. - I do have a Celtic sweatshirt here. - You have a Celtic sweatshirt. - I see if Shane Lackin can sign it, can you sign it for my friend who's not here? - If that would be asking a lot. - I mean, I could try. Well, 'cause I think, yeah. - Are there his jerseys? Are his jerseys at the game? They probably are, right? - I would assume so. He's the team captain. - He's the team captain. - He's the team captain, he's the team captain. - How many years was Shane Lackin on the Celtics? - I wanna say a couple. - A couple. - I wanna say he backed up Kyrie. He backed up maybe Isaiah for an overlap year. - He was on some fun Celtics teams, actually. - And Kyrie wasn't he? - Yeah, so he was on the Celtics. He came over, started playing in Turkey one. He was either, I don't know if it was Euro League Cup or it was like a Turkish Cup, but he won. And then afterwards the NBA was like, hey, if you wanna come back, we got a spot on a roster. And he was like, I think I prefer being a superstar in Turkey than just riding the bench in the US. And he's now won at least two or three cups. He got so good at basketball here, they gave him Turkish citizenship. So he now has a Turkish passport. He now, if you look him up, it says Turkish American. Which a lot of people were saying, I lived in China for eight years. I did some cool shit out there. Am I Chinese American now? I don't know. I think if I had done, I mean, I don't know what could actually, I'm not gonna, that's like Stone Valor, I'm not Chinese American, but like someday, I'd like to be. I think it'll be baby steps with this thing. We get Shane Larkin to come with us and get a transplant. We'll get Jalen Brown next, we'll get. Jalen Brown, some very famous comedians have like jokingly said they'd love to go. I think one's won, I raised the ice. I think it's public like, Arisha Fier, Brett Kreyscher said they wanted Bob does sports. I invited Bob and he said he was very, he was considering going, I talked about in the pod, he was like, I'd love to go. He also said, I think he's already had a couple. So yeah. Oh really? I think he's already had a few. In the US? I would assume so. And he was like, yeah, like, you know what, I might just have to take you up on that. And then I never heard back from him, but I heard from someone, one of his producers, someone on his team. I'm blanking on the name, but he's got a big following as well. Oh yeah, Neil, Arnet, part three pop. He was like, dude, if you ever need someone, I'll go and I'll be like, oh, you could have taken Bob's place. No problem. So yeah, just let me know, we hope to keep doing it. There's like, yeah, probably small adjustments I could make. And if you want to, like, I know people are going to want to know like how this looks moving forward. If you ever want me to check in and, you know, show you where I'm at with things after a few months, you know, six, like there are probably people out there on the fence just the way I was. I was terrified of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just went ahead and did it. I'm so far so good and happy to have there. Like not related to the, not related to the transplant experience. Yeah, related to all the non transplant activities. Anything I could improve on or any highlights. ATV tour was so fun. We hardly even talked about that. We were just whipping through Capodokia on ATV. So like 15 or whatever of us just whipping through and. Yep. We went up to the top of this mountain and looked down and, you know, that was incredible. That was a highlight for sure. Room for improvement. I don't think so. The hotels were sweet. They were all really nice. Like things are really cheap here too. That was a big takeaway, which is nice. You don't feel like you're spending much here at all. Yeah, the, the Lira has seen better days. But that's like, yeah, but I think my only complaint, like I feel kind of bad if it's because the economy has taken a hit. But when like paying for things, we got a large group of people. And part of the deal, it's like, you know, you guys are still paying for your transplant. But I'm like, I want to show you a good time. We'll pay for meals. We'll pay for some activities. Love that. And we go to pay for these activities, which like we got like 35 people. So it's not going to be cheap. And they, they're, they're credit card machines can't process that amount. Like even like, even like a $2,000 charge, we're trying to pay and they're like, no, you, you got to break that into like six bills. And so it's just you get a lot of receipts. It gets a lot more complicated. It might even be more like for our welcome dinner, that like, that may have been like, it was going to be like 22 receipts or something. I was like, there's got to be a way for you guys to take money in. Right. It's not like, we're not trying to take any money out. We're trying to give you guys a lot of money. And they just like, it's very hard to pay for things here. If it's like more than $200, I'd say, actually, even try to pay for a $140 bar bill after the welcome dinner, they couldn't take that in one transaction. That's interesting. So that China, China King, we thought he was a newbie. He was right. Yeah, that's just what happens in China. Yeah, even 140 there, like we need to split those into two bills. The, like honestly, the food, I could, because when you're doing a group activity, you can never guarantee it's going to be good food. It's got to be like a fixed menu they conserved everybody. But that first meal we had in Capitogia, that I think that was my favorite meal. 100% 100% and the boat. That's the last thing we'll talk about before we wrap up this pod. The fucking boat. I had a great time. I thought I was going to be renting that night too. It was not. It was a beautiful night. I hired three belly dancers, which was just insane. But we had a certain budget for the boat and I was like, oh, yeah, they're not that expensive. Let's just get like three. We got a lot of people. Turns out only one showed up. At first I was like, oh, okay, that's kind of a bummer. If we had three belly dancers on the boat, no, this was not a belly dancer. This was like, what would you, she was like a PG stripper? Yeah, belly dancers being nice. Did she do any, like actually the motorboat and that gave that one away? It was the, yeah. Yeah. And I feel kind of bad because people like know they're going to be on the internet and stuff and then all of a sudden there's just like just watching like a strip show. She never took off her clothes to be honest. She walked in and walked out wearing the same clothes. But she was just giving straight up lap dances and like dragging people onto chairs and giving them lap dances. A couple guys were like, I didn't sign up for this. We have a 24 year old. - He's a good old college kid, Sam, he's the man, Mormon guy from Utah, and when she started coming for him, she was like, "Nah, not gonna be on a video doing this." - Good for you, Sam. We always, we had that in us. - Yeah, and like, Zito, I think Zito mentioned he had a girlfriend and she came up and just grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the front. So if your girlfriend, if Michael Zito's girlfriend's watching this, he didn't want to do it. He got grabbed and pulled out. He did it for the content, so shout out Zito. - I'm glad I stayed in the corner. - I didn't get it. - I didn't get it. - Okay, 'cause I should play Chuck with people. I was like, "Is this gonna get anyone in trouble?" They came over to me and I was like, "Nope, sorry, I can't see you. I already misvalentized it." - Yep. - Well, dude, I mean, we only met like five days ago, but it was great chat. - It was the best friends, and that doesn't just go for you, it goes for a lot of the people here. - Yep. - We're seriously lifelong friends. Everybody's got to do each other on Instagram, all that. Like, we're gonna keep it in touch throughout. - Yep. - Next, nine, six, nine, 12 months that we're all going through the same thing, and hopefully these results come in as good as anticipated. And I appreciate you guys having me on again. - Yeah, no problem. - It's also just fun shooting the shit with my mask hole. Like, I haven't lived in Massachusetts full-time. It's like 2010, and now that I live in Chicago, and have a kid, like, I'll make it back once a year, and like that, so I chill with you. And Joshua Fah, aka Friah Fah, 'cause he got the, like, Friah haircut, and Patty, it's been a lot of fun. - Yeah, it has been. - Signin' out. Thanks all.