There's No Place Like Summer Camp: Stories, Tips, and Laughs from Camp America, Camp Counsellors and Beyond

Surprise surprise! Hi everyone! And surprise!

Obviously you can tell from the audio recording but not in the office today doing the usual podcast location but surprise I’m here! You can hear the anxiety pulsing through my veins as I’m recording outside in the general public where anyone can hear me. But I’ve come out of the crack of dawn at 8:45 but surprise it’s another episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. It’s good to be back, man.

The whole situation with the podcast is basically, what we’re going to be doing is having special episodes from here on out really. It’s gone from being the weekly or bi-weekly shows where we are now with episodes that are on a special occasion.

I thought you know what, it’s been a while since I last did a recording. The last episode was with Maisie Craddock, the YouTuber, where we did that interview, and it was really cool to be featured on her channel. So I hope you enjoyed that episode. But I’m here today with something a little different. It’s not so much of an interview. This is just more of a sort of a life update. Check-in with you guys, to surprise you this Monday, with a podcast episode while you’re doing whatever you’re doing.

So yeah, we’re here with a special episode. Sort of like a touch-base episode, shall I say? We’re just gonna be like talking about what’s been going on talking about what’s been going on both in my life and what’s going on with the podcast and the book. And I’ve got some cool updates to come.

It’s been a mental few months. While all this quietness is happening on the podcast front. We’ve got a new child in the mix, say. So I’ve become a dad since the last podcast and it’s it’s a big change in your life, man. It’s big. It’s a hefty change. Becoming a dad is mental. You know that there. There are videos out there. If you go to Andrewwaterhouse.com You can go to my blog, you’ll be able to see my reaction to being told that I was going to be a dad and the surprise on my face was like, wait, what?!

But yeah, she’s here now Rosie is here. And it’s been she’s coming up to six months old now which is mental. I don’t know when that will last podcast I recorded was but it was definitely before she was born. So yeah, it’s a big uphill learning curve. The first couple of months are brutal on the on both of us really. It’s a lot of learning a lot of responsibility, a lot of buying things. But to be honest, over the course of the six months, Rosie has been absolutely fantastic baby to have. She’s really brought the families together both sides. Being the first grandchild on both sides, so she gets absolutely spoiled with kisses and hugs and gifts and you name it, but she’s been around Angel.

So, yeah, basically that’s been a massive change sneakily six months old now. And we’re getting into that with sort of routine. And we have been for a short while to be honest, where I’m more settled in my job. And I’ve got more of the routine sort of hunkered down with who does what chores and who’s the best at putting her to sleep and sort of exchanging that information as well. So we can both be really good at all things. And it’s been quite cool, to be honest, being a parent, because it’s the small things where you’re like, oh my God she rolled herself over today! And that’s massive news as a parent, massive news. Every tiny little thing you’re absolutely flabbergasted by so this week, for instance, she’s started to do this wriggle sort of dance, where she, she’ll wriggle while she’s on her back, almost like she’s dancing. Yeah, so every little thing that she does, you’re just like, stunned and amazed by and then you sort of forget, it’s apparent that they’re actually a human being. They’re going to be doing human being things and, you know, eventually, she’s going to start talking, start crawling, start walking, having a job, going to school, getting grades for things, maybe scoring a goal in a football team or something like that. It’s just like another world. You just think holy shit, all these little things that this person’s doing is something that I made. Yeah, but it’s been great.

I think we’re gonna probably do, there’s probably a whole other podcast discussion on sort of what it’s like to consider about your child going to summer camp. Do I want Rosie to go to summer camp? Do I want her to go to scouts and cubs in the UK, which is sort of the most similar experience to camp America as you get in the UK. But do I want her to go and volunteer and go and do all of those things? It’s definitely worth a podcast discussion about. But anyway, being great news on that front, a lot of changes you can expect.

So, at the same time, as Rosie has come about, there’s been an update on the house. So you’ll, you’ll learn that this period has been so much change in my life. So we purchased the house and didn’t mean for it to happen this way. But we purchased a renovation project, a semi-detached three bedroom house. And we got there, I think the month or the couple of weeks after Rosie was born. So for the past six months or so, we’ve been having to renovate the house alongside Rosie being around, we still haven’t moved in yet six months down the line. But hopefully within the month, next month or two we’ll be in settled.

It’s been a massive job with her on that front as well. So we talking kitchen renovations to rewiring to gas leaks to two water leaks that flooded the house. responsibilities, man, I prefer the days of going to summer camp and just not having bills to pay and all those things. That’s been a massive change as well. So having that having our own house, we’ve always been renting and to finally be able to buy a house do it up, make it the way we wanted as well. It’s gonna be a massive change in our lives.

I was going to record this episode as a video podcast, but I thought you know what, rein it in, get that adrenaline down, calm down. I get so excited when I’m doing these podcasts. Get off your high horse and not do a video podcast out in public when you can barely talk in public.

So with the new house, we’re going to be having an office that’s one of the rooms that I was like if we get in this house, this room is going to be my office. I work from home a lot. So you might have seen in previous podcasts or YouTube clips that I’ve done. I’ve got a had an office at the previous place. And I’ve got a Camp America shrine with my Camp America shirts, put up in a display box. So every time I walk into my office, I see those camp shirts, and I remember all of those memories of how good it really was with a couple of photos of the boys alongside so I wanted a similar place in my new house. The new house is so much bigger and more appropriate for what we’re going to be doing. Both in terms of bringing up a family, but also working from home having that space and it as a large semi-detached home. So I guess we got to make that office a really cool place. And it all also probably ends up with me having some sort of studio space.

So we’re going to have like a good recording setup. And I think in the next future special episodes, I’m going to make them video based. So I know, Spotify and other podcast platforms are pushing for the video, podcasting space. So watch out for that soon as well. So we’ve got the studio, we’ve got a house, we’ve got a child, is there anything else that’s been cracking on in the back of my mind keeping me occupied?

Yes, change of jobs, throw that into the mix. So I’ve got a bit frustrated at the last job with lack of opportunity and feeling like I’m like pulling the whole team. And without me the sort of Team collapsed and things like that. So long story short, I was looking very sparingly at job positions. Operations Manager is my current title. And I was just looking for similar soft positions, found one applied for one and got the job. And it was so out of the blue, because normally, I’m so used to applying for jobs. And I’m sure a lot of you can sort of empathize with this if you’re applying for tons of jobs. And people say oh, you’re not experienced enough or, you’re not quite suited for this role. And you end up applying for hundreds and hundreds of jobs. But I’m at a place in my life now where I’m fucking 30 years old, still talking about summer camp, you know. But at 30, you sort of have that experience behind you now.

So I’ve got a couple of years of experience doing operations manager positions. And basically what I do is stuff to do with web design. So I won’t bore you with details. So web design agency, Operations Manager is my background. And yeah, basically, I’ve been, I applied for like one or two jobs and got a job. And I was like, Oh, shit, I didn’t really it wasn’t really seriously considering a move, but I got the job and soon moved on… the pay is 25% extra helped. So it’s kind of like an offer too good to refuse. But here we are. And it’s a really good position. Really good growth. And it means that I can provide for my family, while we’re in this transitional period of buying a house and raising a child.

But all fun and games and, you know, experience brings. So speaking of websites and stuff, there are significant changes to this website too. There’s been an overhaul to how we appear in Google now. So every podcast even this one, as I talk is going to be transcribed into a blog post. So people who are searching for things like ‘Can I go to Camp America when I’ve got tattoos’ that will be translated by my bot into a blog post. (Yes you can by the way, read more here) And away we go. We get some more views and people so I’ve seen real growth in the podcast. If you don’t follow me already on Twitter, @androow09.

You might have seen I was really proud of the stats on Spotify. Recently, I had a like an end of year podcasters insights, email come in from Spotify. But how the podcast was doing and it was like 400% growth in 2022 which is like shit like these are serious numbers. So I do appreciate all of your guys support.

One of the things that I wanted to bring up in this episode is a really good special offer for you guys this week. Monday, this coming week, because we’ve got Prime Day on Amazon. I think it’s the 12th and 13th of July 2023, of course. So Prime Day is coming up and I thought, let’s hop on this, let’s provide content for you guys at a cheaper rate. So I’ve knocked off  51%. I think it’s just the e-book. But if you want to go check that out, go on to Amazon or go here. And you can get the Kindle version of the book for I think it’s £3.99.

I’m quite excited to hear what people think of the book. And if you have given it a read, or if you buy it or, you know, take advantage of the 51% off. Please do leave a review! It really does help.

One of the things I wanted to talk about in today’s episode is I’ve seen Camp America are doing their own fucking they’re doing their own fucking podcast what’s going on now? What’s going on? I go away for like a few months. And they hop it. They hop straight on. And, yeah, they started to do their own podcast. So it’s kind of interesting. I popped them a tweet on Twitter. So Camp America, if you’re listening, go check your tweets. I did tweet. Yeah. Because I saw the launch tweet that basically said, Oh, we’ve got a podcast now. I was like, what?!

I’m currently here walking around at 9am with my there’s no place like summer camp t-shirt on so if you haven’t got that already. Go check that out. I do have a merch store that’s available.

It’s been what is 2023 now so it’s been nine years since I last went to camp. But it’s only been like, one year since the book was released. And for all that content of podcast episodes and website and merchandise stores, good to finally see a bit of traction coming along. So I hope you enjoy the updates to my life, the podcasts, the website, you’ve got the merch store as well. You’ve also got the 51% off the book for this week. It’s only this week, by the way.

I’ve been looking forward to this Prime Day for a while. And what I’m going to be picking up in this Prime Day is actually a Kindle Paperwhite base, the kid’s version, apparently is supposed to be more value for money. So I’m going to be grabbing a Kindle that’s got a backlit screen and Natasha is going to love that. Because my current setup for reading books at night involves a neck light that goes around the back of my neck with two little pronged, like light bulbs coming out of each side of my neck. Even though it says it focuses the light onto the book, it’s nothing quite like a backlit screen, sort of similar to how you get on a phone. So that’s what I’m going to be picking up during the Prime Day sales. I’m also looking at a gym, a home gym, maybe getting a rowing machine, maybe a running machine.

There are some other bits for the house, I want to get like a vending they get they’ve got these like, you know, when you go to a vending machine, and they’ve got the cans of Coke or whatever in the machine and you see them push the coke to the front after you push the numbers in and give you money. However, they’ve got something similar for a fridge. So I’ve been getting all this nice technology and appliances and new things for the house. We’ve got carpets coming in in the next couple of weeks, we’ve got a carpenter coming around to fix these words that I’ve never heard of like architraves. And yeah, it’s one of those things that I want to pick up in Prime Day sales, is they’ve got these vending machines, sort of like cam pushers for your fridge. So I’ve got a massive-ass like floor-to-ceiling fridge now. And I want to put in this vending machine pusher for cans of Coke. So I’m like sort of dedicating a whole row of fridge to coke.

I’d say just keep an eye on my socials. Keep an eye on the website as well. And hearing you share the pod is really good for me to hear you guys love it. It’s only been like one year since the book was released. I do often get get asked when’s the second one coming, because I went to summer camp twice. That has been started, but the first book took so many years to create and edit and polish. I think you’d really see it if you especially if you buy the paperback version when you have in your hand. It’s a thick, chunky boy. And it’s not like I’ve used big fonts. These are small ass fonts. Small class fonts with a big chunky book. That’s how I like them.

The second book is, has been sort of started on it’s very early days, but it does take years to publish a book. It can’t be something I just rush out because then it just doesn’t make sense. My first few versions of the book were bad and it took time to get them right.

Oh, I haven’t done a podcast about my other released book! So it’s kind of not related to summer camp at all. That might be why I might not have mentioned it. So I’ve actually released the second book. So when Rosie was born, I released a book dedicated to her, called The Fly Who Flew Too High. It’s £6.99 for a paperback version, which is like the standard price for a kid’s book. It’s a picture book of a fly, who wakes up one morning in a very loud garden and gets fed up of all of his neighbours, making noise and waking him up. So he decides to fly away, and he flies up into the sky, and then he goes higher and higher, and he keeps going. And then he busts through the atmosphere, and starts flying around space and the solar system, and he goes and visits different planets. It’s a fun, original story that had always been on my mind for a couple of years. If you want to go check that out, if you’ve got kids of your own, check below. It’s got really good reviews!

The Fly Who Flew Too High – available on Amazon.

It’s crazy, I’m at the age now where all of the work is starting to pay off doing these podcasts and making the effort of recording every week and optimizing the website. Having the books out there, it creates the audience and then I get support from you guys. And it’s I don’t know, it’s really nice to see that. The belief that I sort of had to have in myself to release all this content is starting to pay off. And I think tears.

If you ever go to my blog, You see I ramble quite a lot about working hard, or mental health struggles, or, as a lot of things like just ramblings of a madman a little bit on that. And to see that, projects that I’ve always had a passion for starting to sort of pay off, as I’m like at my mid-life at the minute. 30 years old, you know, people live to say 80. So I’ve got like 10 years left. And so I don’t know, I’m on the way down, literally. That’s if you are lucky! Wow, that’s a bit morbid for 9am on a Sunday morning.

Anyway, so it’s nice, you know, it feels like I feel like there’s a lot of pressure in society at the minute where you’re having to compare yourself to others and I don’t know. Yeah, it’s when you’re comparing yourself to others, it doesn’t get you anywhere, you have to just compare yourself to who you were before. And no one can compete with you and what you are doing. That was a really big lesson that I learned through reading books and educating myself and looking at the habits that have and really honing in on positive habits. And one of the positive habits as all of you know, is read books. No one says oh if you want to get yourself out of a mental health struggle, go watch some TV or go play video games. No one says that… they always say read books.

So it’s nice to see that you guys support me with that. So I’d like to thank you for purchasing right thank you for tweeting me the messages that I get and Facebook messages as well. I don’t even have a Facebook presence. I never push the Facebook following because I don’t like Facebook at all. Facebook was one of the really bad habits that I found was draining my mental health. The only Facebook presence for this site is a Facebook page, only to do some paid advertising, which doesn’t really work. No one wants to ads. So I much prefer to do podcasts and content and interviews and blog posts and that sort of thing.

I don’t know when our next year, like I say, a lot going on in my life at the minute, not meaning to brag or anything. It’s just, you know, sometimes these things just come at once. Here I am having a newborn, a new house, which is also a renovation in brackets, and also a new job. So it’s like the trifecta of stress. It’s like almost it’s almost the Avengers of stress, you know, you just bring in the fucking Super Villains together. And that’s what I’ve got going on at the minute.

But I can see the way out. there are some times during all of this, where I was just like, What am we doing? Why are we doing all this at the same time and it didn’t really meant it was never meant to happen this way. But sometimes that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Whoa, I’ve got seven magpies in front of me. I’m not one for superstitions, but the magpies man every time every time. 1..2…34567…8! No way. Oh my god, you’re getting this breaking news there. I’ve got eight magpies in front of me. So I’ve got one for superstitions but the magpies thing I don’t know why it’s stuck with me and this is gonna be a fun ending so I’m going to find out what eight magpies means. I bet some people maybe the Gen Z of you who have no idea what I’m talking about okay so I’m having a look let me just try this out Magpie meaning numbers.

So you’ve got the one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, or four for a boy. Five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told… ah eight is for a wish. Okay, so what am I going to wish for? What would you wish for? Wish for summer camp? I don’t know. It’s good to hang out with you guys.

Speaking of wishing for summer camp. It dawned on me I’m sure I’ve mentioned it in previous episodes. For the Camp Wildfire, who was on Dragon’s Den? A couple of years ago now, but basically it was on the UK Dragon’s Den, someone came up with the idea of doing adults summer camp. experiences for people. And I don’t think they got funding in the end. Spoiler alert. But it’s always played on my mind, like, Ah, how nostalgic and how cool would it be? But it’s just full of adults. But summer camp for adults in the UK. There’s a part of me that wants to give it a try. So I went onto YouTube earlier and had a look at people that were there and the reviews and, man, there’s something about it that I’d love to give it a try. But at the same time, it’s not going to be the summer camp that I remember.

And that’s part of the second book really, is why it was only to a summer camp, man. It’s a drug. And here I am, nine years later, since going to summer camp myself in here I am in a bus stop in Manchester, talking about summer camp.

But yeah, I’ve got eight magpies here, my wish. My wish… I’ll tell you what I wish for. I know it’s bad luck to tell but its more about bonding with you guys.

I’m going to wish for maybe Rosie to be healthy and happy. Something like that. Rosie to be healthy. I think the happy part would count as a second wish.

A lot clearer headspace as well.  I say to get yourself into some healthy habits if you aren’t in the right place. Look at what’s not clicking for you at the minute. Meditation is one that’s really honed me in personally. I’m now more grounded and present. And comparing myself to myself and not to others. You should want to be happy for your friends when they are successful. You shouldn’t sat there with envy because they’re doing something that you’re not, or they’ve got something that you don’t have. That was a biggie for me, I used to be on Facebook all the time and I used to see people who were way younger than me were buying a house and I was here struggling having moved miles and miles away from Potters Bar.

But I never considered how they got it, or the backstory that granddad and grandma died and then inheritance went to them, or they won the lottery, or the dad is always in America working his ass off and never sees the kids. You don’t know that. But on Facebook I just saw the glitz of showing off the keys. That took me a while to figure out. So if you are struggling, I’d say compare yourself to yourself. And maybe read Atomic Habits by James Clear, that’s a good book… And also read There’s no place like summer camp – its 51% off!

Alright, guys. I’ll see you in the next episode. I don’t know when it will be. But I’m still around. I’m still alive. I’m still writing. I’m still talking. I need to end the episode. Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening to. It’s totally free. If you want to check out more about there’s no place like summer camp. Go to theresnoplacelikesummercamp.com

All right, I’m gonna love you and leave you finally, its been a good chat. Peace!

We return for a special episode! Going forward it’s special one-off episodes and we’re starting with Maisie Craddock. She’s got a fantastic YouTube channel full of Camp America and summer camp content. In this podcast episode, we talk all things summer camp, what it meant to her and the tips she took away from her experience. If you want to see when she interviewed me, go on to YouTube and search for Maisie Craddock. I hope you enjoy this episode and I’ll see you occasionally for more special one-off episodes in the future. If you want to be on the podcast, get in touch! I’m on Twitter androow09 or you can reach me by going to theresnoplacelikesummercamp.com/contact.

Her channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MaisieCraddock/videos

Andrew Waterhouse

Maisie Craddock

Andrew Waterhouse

Maisie Craddock

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Maisie Craddock

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Andrew Waterhouse

Maisie Craddock

Andrew Waterhouse

Maisie Craddock

Andrew Waterhouse

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Andrew Waterhouse

Maisie Craddock

There are quite a few foods to be fair. A really weird one, and no one will ever say this, is the lack of veg. The only veg we had was raw broccoli and I was like “I have to have veg!”. Every time I go to the supermarket now and do some cooking, chopping up broccoli, that brings me back to camp. It is dead funny! But another one is the classic smores, which remind me of camp. Especially the way done at camp with the Hershey bars and Graham Crackers, the smell of smoke and all of that, reminds me of camp.

Andrew Waterhouse

Wow I would never have put raw broccoli on my list of guesses for what foods people may bring up on that question. But there we have it! That is the end of this podcast and I want to thank Maisie for being a special guest. For more of her content, check out her YouTube channel above as well as our separate video recorded for her channel – also embedded above.

This episode we say goodbye to the podcast. It’s been great guys, but I really have to focus on getting the best out of my time. Expect to see me promoting There’s No Place Like Summer Camp on TikTok and other platforms to help spread the word on how good summer camp truly is. It’s not goodbye – I’ll come and go but for now its an adios to the podcast and on to other projects. Thanks for your support, kind words etc. I’ll be back, just don’t know when. Stay up to date on my whereabouts by following me on Twitter, @androow09.

Hello, guys, and welcome to another episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I’m outdoors today, and it’s a nice day in the middle of May. However, there’s a slight difference in the audio quality and background sounds because I’m on the road and feeling a bit out of breath. Today’s episode is a little different as I want to talk about the changes in my life that have impacted the podcast and where we go from here.

In the previous episode, I shared with you all about my house move and some changes in my life. However, my current living situation doesn’t allow me to continue with the weekly podcast episodes. I’m feeling a bit confused about where to take the podcast from here due to my living arrangements and work schedules. The podcast has always been a place to promote my book and build a community around summer camp, as well as answering questions and providing entertainment. It has been an enjoyable project for me, but with the recent changes, I need to reconsider the format.

The goal of the podcast has always been to promote my book and encourage people to volunteer at camp America during the prime time for summer camps. However, with the current challenges, I feel the need for a change in approach to get the best out of myself and promote the book effectively. My living situation has made it difficult to record podcasts every week and come up with new ideas, so I need to find a solution.

As we are currently on Episode 84 or 85 of long-form discussions about summer camp and all the tips and advice I could think of, I realize that the podcast episodes will always be available for new and old listeners to revisit. The interviews and discussions about summer camp will continue to be there for everyone to listen to. However, I need to make some changes to keep the podcast alive and thriving.

Going forward, I have a vague solution in mind. I want to keep the podcast alive but adapt to my current living situation. I will continue to share my deep passion for summer camp and how it has changed me and others. But I might need to change the format and frequency of the episodes to accommodate my current challenges. This is a passion project, to provide valuable content and engage with my audience, but I also need to find a balance that works for me.

I want to thank all of you for your continued support of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. The podcast is not going anywhere, but there will be some changes in the format and frequency of episodes due to my current living situation. I will continue to share my love for summer camp and provide valuable content to my audience. I appreciate your understanding and look forward to the next chapter of the podcast.

Have you ever had an experience that changed your life? For me, it was going to summer camp. It took me from someone who was sheltered and introverted to someone with a world of experiences and friends. That’s why I decided to create a podcast called “There’s No Place Like Summer Camp.” But now, after covering many topics, I think it’s time for a change. In this post, I’ll talk about my experience at summer camp and how it led me to my latest projects.

When I went to summer camp for the first time, I had no idea how good it would be. I had only heard about how good it was from other people who had either done it or heard about it by word of mouth. It took a bit of a leap of faith to go, not knowing anyone or anything, and putting in about 1000 pounds. But I walked away with tons of stories, experiences, and friends, and my eyes were opened to the world. I knew I had to spread the word.

One of the good habits I kept was keeping a diary, which I did from about age 16 to 23. Every night before I’d hit the sack, I’d sit on my phone typing away the notes of what had happened that day. I knew that I had to take what was such an amazing experience, from what was in my diary into something that the general public could really enjoy and educate themselves upon. And that’s how the idea for the podcast “There’s No Place Like Summer Camp” was born. I knew it was a passionate thing that I wanted to get out there, and I think it was such a niche that’s very untapped. I knew so many people who had done it, and I wanted to share the experience.

The project started from a dark place to be honest – a long-term relationship had come to an end shortly after my second stint at summer camp, and I needed a project to distract me. I had quality content in my diary entries, and I knew it was something that I wanted to get out there. That’s why I wrote my debut book, “There’s No Place Like Summer Camp.” I translated my diary entries into something that people could enjoy, adding dialogue that was never there in my diary entries, and more.

After my book was published, I found myself looking for a new project. I decided to break out of the routine of going back through diary entries and translating them into something that people enjoy. That’s why I’m working on a completely different kind of project now – a children’s book called “The Fly That Flew To High.” It’s a story that I’ve had in the back of my mind for about two years, and I’m excited to get it out there for a different kind of audience. It’s really weird how the story came about, but I’ll keep that for another episode.

Summer camp changed my life, and I hope that my book and podcast can inspire others to take that leap of faith and experience it for themselves. But now, it’s time for a change, and I’m excited to work on my children’s book and see where that takes me. Thank you for coming on this journey with me, and I hope you keep an eye out for “The Fly That Flew To Hi” and other projects in the future.

This episode, I respond to my 2017 five year goals and outline the goals I have for 2034. It’s a different kind of episode, but you get to hear my way of thinking and get a bit more about the author of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp.

In this episode, we listen to the CEO of American Camp Association, Tom Rosenberg to hear how inflation is driving up the cost of summer camps. It’s an interesting listen as he is interviewed by Yahoo Finance and I give you my personal reaction too.

Hello and welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I’m your host, Andrew Waterhouse. And in today’s episode, I’m taking a look at how inflation is driving up the cost of summer camps. So coming into our tent, and I’ll spill the beans

I believe this is episode 84. As we are quickly honing in on that magic 100th episode, in this episode is something a little bit different again.

So…a bit about me is in 2020 onwards, I’ve been very interested in getting into the financial system, investing, crypto, short squeezes, and loads of different things.

And it was one of those hobbies that I really picked up during the pandemic. Because I was sat at home, I’d always wanted to get myself involved in economics and make myself financially independent and learn the intricacies of stock markets and shares and growth and that sort of thing.

Now, I shortly recently just say, I recently saw an article come up on YouTube from Yahoo Finance. And the title was how inflation is driving up the cost of summer camps. So in this episode, we’re going to be watching this interview on Yahoo Finance, and doing some commentary over the top. So let’s give it a watch. Now, before I start this, I know that your audio isn’t going to be the greatest I’ve done.

Like everything I possibly can to try and catch the audio of this. Of course, if you want to go and check it out, you can go on to Yahoo Finance and search for how inflation is driving up the cost of some accounts, you can watch it yourself, otherwise, you’re going to be listening along with me. And I’m just going to be doing my commentary over the top. Okay, let’s see how this goes. This is Yahoo Finance and how inflation is driving up the cost of summer camp.

Here’s the Yahoo Finance video:

Speaking of COVID, we know they did affect a lot of summer camps over the past few years. In fact, according to the ACA, the average cost of Bandcamp now has more than doubled to $178 a day compared to about $76 last year. Now that’s a ridiculous stat from 2021 average cost of a day camp was $76. Fast forward to 2022, just one year later, that’s $178 a day. That’s mental. And that’s a day camp. That’s not someone like staying for days upon days upon days, that’s just like going to camp for the day. It’s like that’s ridiculous numbers I’m seeing across the board. Prices are going through the roof.

I’m trying to get a house at the minute at the time of recording this, I’m trying to get a house. And we offered 10,000 pounds over the asking price and we still didn’t get it we got outbid by someone else. It just goes to show that at the minute, I think prices are very susceptible to a complete and catastrophic crash. Because it’s not sustainable to have prices more than double in a year. And the inflation rates at the minute are like mirroring double digits. wages aren’t keeping up, everyone’s going to have to like cut back on their non-essential spending, which is why you’re seeing things like Netflix’s share price, absolutely crater over one day, they lost about 40% over one day just because their metrics weren’t a lining up. So from $76 in 2021, for an average cost at a day camp to 178 in 2022. So let’s carry on with their interview and see where this goes. Let’s let’s bring in our guest Tom Rosenberg, the American Camp Association, President and CEO, thank you for joining us. So first of all the top expenses that are now driving some of these prices up and are there any ways to release with these parents in terms of perhaps financing?

Well, yeah, it can cost the cost of providing camp just like everything else right now is really going up. We’ve had increases in labour. We’ve labour costs, food costs, program supply costs, and COVID-related costs, everything has gone up. So cancer are are trying to operate at scale this summer, which is different from the past few summers. So there will be an additional expense most camps have to pass along. Some price increases to families. We thought we found this specific on how much day camps have increased, almost doubled. How about sleepaway camps? And what’s been the biggest challenge? Why are those prices increasing so high? I would say labour is one part of it. Certainly, there’s a shortage of qualified staff to work in camps. And so we’re trying to hire as many staff as we can to operate. So just to give it a pause there, the average cost of a sleepaway camp has tripled year over year. So currently, we’re sitting at $449 a day, on average to have a sleepover to have your child at a sleepaway camp. Now, that is ridiculous. I thought prices were ridiculous when I was volunteering at summer camp because parents were paying so much money and it was like 1000s upon 1000s of dollars to make sure their kids had the time of their lives. And it is quite a project. And when you consider how much how many staff there are, how many resources there are, how many activities you have to put on for these kids.

But at the end of the day, a lot of these summer camps are businesses too. They have to be self self-sufficient. They have to self-fund themselves to increase the availability and excitement of their summer camp, adding new features and that sort of thing, which I touched upon within the second year of my summer camp because I returned for a second summer. Now that book isn’t even written yet is it the raw material is there but have yet to start actually converting that into a book. But anyway, let’s get back to this interview and see where this goes from here. $449 a day for the average cost of a sleepaway camp, which has tripled over 2021. Now is that sustainable, let’s see. Right as it scale as possible, but also the cost of insurance, think about property casualty insurance. And within a youth market, the very hard market right now, it has been for some time, and it’s only getting worse. Also, we have, you know, windstorm and fire and things like that, that are affecting camps across the country. So, but also, they’re just, you know, this summer, camp directors and overnight camps, for example, are really hoping that they can count on getting the food that they order on time so that the menu they plan will actually happen. So last year, they were juggling a lot of things to make that happen with the supply and logistics challenges that were occurring. So it’s the good news is, Camp is going to happen at scale as far as it scale as possible. So millions of children can once again, go to day camp and overnight camp like typically pre-pandemic that was 26 million boys and girls.

And demand for campus soaring right now. So we’re doing so that’s really good to say that demand for camp is soaring, you have to bear in mind that 2020 and 2021 will have heavily affected by COVID. Of course, COVID is still a thing as you can hear my voice, I’m actually COVID-positive at the time of recording.

And it’s very interesting to see 26 million campers, on average go to summer camp in the year and they want to grow that number. They don’t want to stifle it. And that’s the problem that summer camps do have it and it’s often glossed over. Problem. When you look back at volunteering with Camp America is the swathes of kids and families that don’t actually get the chance to take their kids to a summer camp and have the time of their lives is very much of a dream for many families, many kids that they want to go and have these crazy once in a lifetime experiences. And there are so many kids and families that are able to budget themselves over the course of a year. So every year they can go and work or shall I say enjoy themselves summer camp, your best to manage costs as well as we can. But prices are going up. And I would say demand is outstripping

supply in a big way right now. We’re going to ask them, What do you have this sort of the labour shortages and these other pressures? How much has it changed pre-pandemic worsens. Now in terms of the people trying to get into camps, and just how much you’re able to accommodate people? Well, you know, they’re 74 million school-aged children in the United States, I believe, and a pre-pandemic, we were serving about 26 million of them. But a lot of children out there who have not yet had the privilege of attending a day camp or attending an overnight camp that’s a shame. We’re very much aware of that we’re working really hard to find funding for. For more kids to go to camp. We also need to build more camps and grow camps make the increase their capacity. Even the United States Department of Education has provided summer learning dollars available for you

Have you been most disproportionately affected by the pen? See, it’s quite interesting to hear that the amount of kids that don’t go to summer camp is actually larger than those that do. As he said, I think it was roughly about so 70 million was it 70 million kids that they could get. And then there’s the 26 that actually end up going. So there’s quite a big gap between those two. And it makes me think that if I was like a billionaire if I was a philanthropist, I would love to be able to put in or own different camps. Why is that not a massive thing that billionaires and millionaires do pull their money together literally give the kids the experience that they remember, and make it affordable? It’s really hard. And a lot of the time you people see summer camps as sort of like a charity. But at the end of the day, they are business. And they do take substantial risks by having so many activities, and they need all this insurance and all this coverage and legal protection. And then there’s all the staff as well. And this guy here from the ACA, he’s the head of the ACA, what’s his name? What’s his name? Tom Rosenberg, the American Camp Association.

He touched upon the labour law, he touches upon the labour shortage really hitting the summer camps, which is forcing the higher wages. So you have to think that often, when I’m browsing through sub Reddits, or I don’t know online news, you get to see, I don’t know, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Starbucks are all offering these really higher wages than they used to previously offer back in 2020, or 2021. Because there’s a market at the minute of labour that really sees their time is valuable. And they don’t want to be working at these really menial jobs.

Especially after having that break with COVID, where everyone was able to go back home, they had to stay away from work, they didn’t have to work at McDonald’s all that time, and they were able to upskill themselves. And that really does have an effect on the wages that these companies have to offer to entice people back into the stores and doing those sorts of menial jobs I use with air quotes. Now that obviously has its own impact on summer camps too, because while it’s not a menial job, it’s definitely a different tangent from working the nine to five that most people like to do. So it’s quite interesting to see that the summer camps are having to increase their wages, in line with all the other inflation that’s going on. As for the food, that’s not something that I’m overly familiar with. But personally speaking from the UK, when I go to the supermarkets now, or if I go to a takeout joint, I do really notice the increased price that all of these foods are demanding. And it’s really, it doesn’t really feel sustainable to me. So as a man, then as a millennial, I’m really hoping for a market crash sometime soon.

Endemic through as your funding through the State Superintendent and the local superintendents. So we’re trying to create summer learning opportunities like camps for all kids. But there right now we’ve got lots of new families who’ve never had their children attend camp, lots of families who have been sending their kids to camp for years, everyone wants to go to camp this summer, there’s never been a more essential time for children and youth to have access to summer learning experiences like camp. So you have to remember that in 2020 and 2021, these camps were closed. So for the families that were always sending their kids to camp, that’s really only added to their desire to get their kids to camp while they still can, because their kids are two years older. So you can understand that. At the same time, these parents that have been staying at home saving the money on the family holidays that they used to have, now have this opportunity to actually send their camp their kids to camp for the first time, which is only adding to the increased demand send what business 101 is supply and demand, the supply has roughly stayed the same. Obviously, there’s not been many new camps that have popped up around the USA. But the demand for Spaces has really increased and therefore the prices reflect that. Yeah, a lot of kids have not had any socialization in the last two or three years. You get a sense of how much the pandemic is still factoring in at both day camps and sleepaway camps and we talked about masks, social distancing, and limited numbers, are we back to pre-pandemic camps? Yeah, that’s a great question. Camps must prepare for whatever comes to summer, no one that I know has a crystal ball and understands what variant might or might not affect this summer. So we, you know, camp directors are always prepared to the best of their ability to manage communicable disease.

So this summer, you know, we know from two summers from summer 2020, and the summer of 2021, we know that you know how to operate day and overnight camp safely. And this is time-tested research from outside researchers.

So this so the interesting graphic that they have on the screen at the minute are showing the number of summer camps that were open in 2020 versus 2021. In 2020, only 20% of summer camps were open 20% in 2020, in 2021 67% of camps were open. So you have to understand there’s still a substantial margin of summer camps just last year that were still closed because of the uncertainties of the pandemic. Now, in 2022, what they’re estimating is, is that number is going to be substantially higher than 67% As people are vaccinated wearing masks, following good protocols, and everyone just wants to go back to normal life. And the pandemic seems to be more accepted, accepted within society rather than feared. So people are saying that we’re potentially over that worse hurdle. And we’re sort of treating it as a secondary, cold or flu nowadays. So it’s interesting to see those differences. And that’s a particular reason why there’s no place like summer camp wasn’t released back in 2020. When I initially had hoped, because no one was travelling, no one would be able to see or find out about this podcast, see the book, and want to travel. So now it’s out. Now it’s available for everyone, make sure you go and pick it up. It’s available on Amazon and other book retailers. So let’s see how the rest of this interview plays out.

Over we have access to the vaccine, and many camps are asking parents to please make sure that their kids are vaccinated if they’re eligible. They’re asking their staff to please consider being vaccinated if they’re eligible. There’s also pre-camp testing. We’ve seen this in schools, where basically, pre-camp testing and also for like a day camp, there may be opportunities during different parts of the day camp experience when they’re asked to be tested as well. But in addition to that, you know, depending on what we see this summer, they should be ready with all of the multilayered mitigation strategies that we employed in the summer of 2020. For those camps that did operate, which about 20% of overnight camps operated in the summer of 2020. And about 40% of day camps operated in the summer of 2020 and 21, we had closer to 100. Most overnight camps were able to operate, and most day camps were able to operate. But they didn’t operate at scale. This summer, we hope they’ll operate at scale. But we’ve got to have those multi-layered mitigation strategies like masking behaviour change before you come to camp.

All kinds of these different layers of strategies have to be read through ready to implement them.

Tom, how much? How much are they still making up for losses in the pandemic? And that is a result of these prices?

That’s a good question. That’s a great question. He said himself. Right now camps are really just trying to ameliorate the effects of their cost this year, cancer really hurt and the summer of 2020. Many overnight camps did not operate and day camps did not operate and went a whole year without revenue. And so through PPP and other programs, they were able to get some relief. But there has been no industry-wide relief like there has been for restaurants or for Broadway shows and other or industries like that. To see that that’s a bit sad to hear. But I think that’s always going to happen with the sorts of businesses when something so unexpected as like a fucking global pandemic happens. Not all industries are going to get that government support because there are lobbyists for the bigger entities out there. And there are more obvious more obviously hurt enterprises than summer camps that spring to mind like you say, the restaurants the takeaways, the theaters, events and theatricals and all of these other things. I’m very much taking the centre focus which you can understand, but the summer camps are taking that backseat and therefore that prices really have to make up a substantial gap that’s been had in 2021 and 2020.

But it’s kind of a difficult situation because we’re at, we’re being asked to scale as much as possible to serve as many kids across our country as possible, yet cancer or have been really hurt in the pandemic. So, to a great extent right now, they’re just trying to manage the increasing costs of operating in this year. But they also have working capital challenges, they also have improvements, they would like to make their camp, but probably you’re gonna have to pause on those improvements.

Because of the other challenges that are facing at the end of the day. The key to a high-quality camp is having highly qualified staff, who are well-trained, who really love working with kids and who understand how, how to do all of that. It’s also about having a safe and healthy facility and having a high-quality program to really keep the kids engaged and help them sort of re-ignite their 21st-century learning skills. All right, Tom Rosenberg, American Camp Association, President and CEO, appreciate your time. Thank you. Hey, go. So that’s the American Camp Association, Director, or CEO, shall I say, Tom Rosenberg, it’s very interesting to hear his take on why summer camp prices are literally going through the roof. You saw earlier about the prices, literally tripling in some cases, compared to what they used to be like in 2021. And even in 2021, and 2020. Even back when I used to volunteer at summer camp, I thought that summer camp prices were ridiculously high. So to see that now, with those increased prices, and everything, you can totally understand their point of view of why they’re being increased by such a substantial margin.

And you also have to remember that a lot of these camps actually do take a lot of voluntary donations from parents to help fund the sustainability of their summer camps. So wherever they want to create new activities for the kids, or maintain their camp or anything like that, to really help the running of the day-to-day of summer camp. The summer camps really do rely on the income that’s being generated. And you can see that they’re having to make up the lost ground of 2020 and 2021. So personally speaking, I wouldn’t want to be in any summer camp director’s shoes at the minute, but I think these testing times, they’re probably the most rewarding and satisfying, when 2022 would come to an end of summer camp, and you can look back and think you know what, the world’s coming back. And it’s great to have summer camps alive and kicking again. So it’s been great to hear from someone that’s so senior at a summer camp Association. I’m going to try and keep an eye on any further developments, especially from someone so high up as the American American Camp Association, anything to do with summer camp in the news. I’m going to be doing these sorts of episodes a little bit more.

And yeah, I hope you enjoyed this episode. It was different. It’s just an interesting take to see what it’s like in these pandemics sort of times on how some accounts are being affected, you can totally understand all the different aspects that have combined together to really squeeze these prices through the roof. So we’ll see how it ends up. Hopefully, 2022 is going to be another memorable year for you guys that are either going over to summer camp to volunteer or for these campers that are having their return to summer camp or even their first time at summer camp. Anyway, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I shall see you in the next one. Have a good one.

This episode you get to know more about me, Andrew Waterhouse, the author of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. In 2017 I wrote a blog post about where I see myself in five years. And its been five years since. So have I achieved my goals? Listen to the pod and find out…

Why volunteering or going to Scouts in the UK is great for if you want to do Camp America. In this episode, I discuss my experience of being a cub. a scout and a young leader in the UK and how it let me get to work at Camp America. Plus since the last episode, I caught COVID again, so there’s that…

I provide a sneak peak of what There’s No Place Like Summer Camp is like, as I read the experience of being at my first day volunteering at summer camp. If you want to grab yourself your own copy of the book – head on over to your favourite retailer of choice and pick up a copy!

Hello everyone and welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. This is the episode where the books have been released. Oh yeah. So coming into our tent and I’ll spill the beans.

Hello everyone. Yeah, the intro still rockin. That’s in place I saw the company’s out guys. Wow. Cheers. Cheers to you guys. This one’s for you. Oh God, I am definitely going to go a couple of ways. Jesus Christ.

There’s No Place Like Summer Camp is out. I don’t even know what to say. I don’t know what to say. It’s been in the works for six years. There’s no  structure to this one. It’s been six years in the making to get to the point of a book release. And here we are. There’s No Place Like Summer Camp is available on Amazon. It’s available, potentially wherever you want to buy your books. I don’t want to say it’s available on eBook paperback, hardback. Six years, man six years in the making to get to here. My initial plan was back in I think 2018.

We’re at what I think this is the 82nd podcast episode. And my initial plan was to release There’s No Place Like Summer Camp in 2018. I remember my first book, The first book of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp wasn’t even called the same name. I don’t know if you know this, but this is going to this podcast could go on for however long. And it’s gonna go on all sorts of tangents. So I hope you’re prepared for that. And I hope you’ve got a nice beverage of choice next year. Mine today is Coke Zero. And you would see that if this was a YouTube video, but we’ll get onto that more a bit later. I’m just going to pretend it’s like an alcoholic beverage. Because that’s the cool thing everyone does. But I’m no drinker. Not anymore. I’m approaching 30. Come on.

Yeah, my initial release was in 2018. I think I’m sure I released a version of the book. I think it was 2016 or 2017. And I thought it was pretty much ready. Now if you go and get There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. You’ll be able to see all this bonus information by going to theresnoplacelikesummercamp.com/bonus. And you’ll be able to download all this bonus content. And in that bonus content, you’ll be able to see the previous covers that I had, as well as a readout that I did at our author meetup. You can see the journey that the books come on. Now it’s cool. It’s cool to say I’m a fucking author. I’ve published a book, There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. What I was trying to say is there’s no place like summer camp, it wasn’t always that name. It used to be called a secret diary of American summer camp. I don’t even think that’s the correct name.

But it’s gone through its name iterations and then I settled on There’s No Place Like Summer Camp because I think it hits the nail on the head. And I don’t know if you’ve known this but I know Natasha, for instance, didn’t know this herself. It took her a while to figure out oh, that’s why it’s called that. So obviously I’m sure there’s gonna be people in this podcast now listening and going HOLY SHIT I didn’t even realize or There’s gonna be loads of people you listening saying obviously. I knew that. So cut to the point. There’s no place like home. Yeah, It comes from Wizard of Oz. Now a lot of you listening are probably going to be in the 18, to 25 age bracket.

Now, I’m not that much older than 25, he says, but I know the Wizard of Oz. So if you don’t know the Wizard of Oz, and you’re between 18 and 25, please come watch the Wizard of Oz, the original one. So that’s where there’s no place like home comes from. And the reason I called it, There’s No Place Like Summer Camp is because it’s sort of like a second home. Now, that’s poetry. And I think it sums up exactly how I feel about summer camp, is I keep reminiscing, I keep talking about it, loads of other people do the same thing. And that’s the reason that I settled on, There’s No Place Like Summer Camp, it’s, you know, it’s a bit of a phrase, that sums up exactly what I want this book to be. And I’m proud to say that it’s available now.

It’s come on quite a journey. And I don’t know, I don’t know what my goals are for this. I don’t know what the goals are, I don’t know what I’m expecting from it. I just knew that I wanted to produce the best content I could, and it will take as long as it would need to take before it would launch. I didn’t want to release something that was going to flop on its initial launch. That’s something that I’ve been very careful about. Because back in 2016, sort of times when I thought the book was ready, and I did those author talks where I’d still stand up in front of a group of authors. You’ll hear on the bonus content, the feedback I was getting, wasn’t great. You can tell why if you listen to my readout. It was very wanting those early copies. I think in total, I’ve probably made over 20 different versions of this book. Over the course of the six years, 20 completely different versions of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp, where they either have like, you know, totally different layouts, totally different name different characters, totally different. Events, totally different sort of photos were in there at one point in the very early stages. But now I can say that I’m so happy with it. And I have to give a quick mention to the people that helped me get to this point because it’s not just a one-man band.

I got a lot of help from my editor, Joanna Craven, who’s mentioned in the book, as well as the others. Muhammad Ali, was great. He was so fantastic at helping set up a book that looked professional, and he helped with the formatting and that sort of thing. There’s Rebecca Ira who was great at helping me create a stunning front cover and helps me with just getting the across the line all three of those people are fantastic. To say that the books out now is is it’s ridiculous.

So yeah, it’s available on Amazon eBook, paperback hardback, it should be available no matter where you’re listening. So if you are listening, say from the US, and you’re interested in summer camp, you should be able to go on to amazon.com and buy the book. If you’re in the UK, of course, all three copies will be available there. There are some problems with like different language countries like Mexico, where you speak Portuguese for some reason. If you want to order the book, you’re gonna have to order from like, I don’t know, amazon.com or something. I don’t know how it works over there. But if you’re listening from abroad, just bear that in mind. I know I have my fans in Germany, I sent out that special signed in addition to my friend Alex, who’s been on the podcast before for an interview where we just talked about summer camp, and it was great to see his support throughout the years. So he got a special signed copy. I think the German audience do have their storefront as well. So you’ll be able to pick up the copy.

But it was just in some random countries. I think it was Mexico and Netherlands that there were the two where I just couldn’t, I couldn’t upload the book because it was in English. And even with the heads up like heads up this books in English by the way. Amazon still wouldn’t let it happen. But anyway, I’m getting on a tangent. There are more retailers in the world than just Amazon. Which leads me on to this Say how chuffed I am with having it. The possibility of having the book in Waterstones or WHSmiths or your local book shop, it can be in so many different places. It’s not an Amazon exclusive, I’m thrilled to say because you do get some, you know, self-published works that are a bit questionable. But in this case, I’ve gone all out, I’ve not, I’ve not let any stone go on turned. And for instance, I’m still recording a fucking audiobook. It’s a lot of work, I think I’m about five hours into it and I’ve only scratched about 25% of the book.

So that’s fun and that might be coming out “soon”. I say soon with air quotes there. But I hope to have that out at some point, just to get it as available as possible. Because I know some of you guys, you might not read books, books are pretty uncool, at least in the stereotype way of thinking is you know who reads a book. “oh, the last time I read a book was, I don’t know the Hungry Caterpillar when I was four years old”. I know that this sort of audience, a lot of you think that way. And it’s a bit of a shame because books can open up a world of possibilities. But I know, audiobooks, podcasts are filling in that gap. So I am working on an audiobook. And you’ve always got this podcast here to help you out as well just to get your summer camp fix. So There’s No Place Like Summer Camp, it’s available. It’s not only in Amazon, hopefully, if I ever do see it in Waterstones or any retailer, but I’m also going to have to buy a pen and just sign it. So if you do ever see it in a store, hit me up on Instagram, hit me up on Twitter. That will be so cool to see because I’ve done it properly. I’ve done it through all the official channels. It’s very much a real possibility that it could be, you know, a Waterstones best seller.

Now, my goals for the book, they’re not as extravagant as that, I just wanted to say that I’ve released a book, and it’s on a passion project of mine. That’s, you know, been such a fantastic time of my life where I volunteered at summer camp that I think it should be some experience that’s shared with the world. I hope it inspires young people to go and explore and take a risk. Because I think nowadays, it’s very, very easy to just sit on your ass and watch Netflix. Now, that’s not the sort of person I am. And it’s never really been the sort of person I am. Instead, I’ll be the sort of person that would sit down in front of my Xbox 360 and play video games all day. There was a part of my life that was like that. But nowadays, I’ve started to become like this workaholic. I’m not trying to turn this into like a mental health podcast or anything like that.

But when I listened to the likes of happy place on Spotify or any other podcast platform with Fearne Cotton, I do empathize/associate myself to the way that she thinks because if I’m not working, or if I’m not being productive, then “what’s the point in living, oh my god, what am I doing, I’m just a waste of skin”. And like someone else, you know, could do so much better than what I’m doing right now. I have to tread a careful line here. Because the main reason that I don’t use Facebook and social media, in my personal life, like Instagram, own Instagram accounts, and that sort of thing. I don’t use social media because I compare myself to others. I very much care what people think, which is shit, to be honest.

But that’s the way of social media, the way social media is set up is for you to instantly think oh, okay, I know Andrew bought house. I don’t know, I went to school with him. And, you know, look at him, he’s released a book. And then I’ve, oh, I’m just over here, just doing my nine to five and I never got to travel. If you think that way then you’ll be miserable. And that’s not my intention here like it’s very easy to compare yourself to others. But one of the best tips that I got from Jordan Peterson, who’s a very, very big inspiration of mine, is to compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Don’t compare yourself to me. Don’t compare yourself to… I don’t know, your best friend. Don’t compare yourself to your worst enemy. Don’t compare yourself to Elon Musk or someone you aspire to be. Compare yourself to who you were before.

Of course, take tips and influence from the likes of someone who’s who inspires you. But compare yourself to someone that’s I don’t know. You don’t know anything about it’s not a good way. So yeah, it filled me with much anxiety posting to my own Facebook page. Or should I say my own Facebook account to my so-called friends? To sort of promote that this book is a thing because, in my head, I thought, okay, the books releasing now, do I keep it silent and not say a thing? Then people stumble upon my book and think, holy shit, Andrew Waterhouse has released a book, or do I go out there? Do one post, say, here it is, it’s released now. And then that can be it. That’s why I went with, so it wasn’t sort of bragging. Maybe I’m overthinking it just by saying it in this podcast. But I think a lot of people have a lot of struggles, especially with COVID and stuff. I know I do.

Everyone does. Everyone has their mental struggles. And it’s very easy to compare yourself to other people. And that’s why I do a lot. I care about what other people think too much. It’s not a healthy thing. So it’s only as I’m starting to tense my 30s that I think, you know, what, if someone doesn’t like me cool, fuck off, your problem. I think that’s only a thing that you start to get when you’re starting to turn 30. Anyway, so that’s what I was very careful about is sort of straying that line of trying to be the, if I ever come across as the person that’s trying to show off, and he’s doing it for the ego, please try and knock me down a peg or two. Because that’s not I’m trying to be I’m just trying to do it for my own sake.

So as for goals of the podcast, and the book is just been something that’s, you know, something I’m passionate about, it’s always going to be there, which is always a fantastic thing like the book will always be there, it will always be on sale, you can always pick it up, you can always get it second hand, hopefully, if physical copies sell. It’s very tempting to keep an eye on the seller rankings and how many sales are making. But initially, on my first day, I have no intention of going in and looking at the sales quite yet, you know. And it’s exciting to see like, it’s sort of climbing some sort of ranking list.

But I don’t want to become obsessed with it. You know, I did it for my own sake. I haven’t got a sales goal in mind, I just want to get the word out and sort of capture a niche that I think is ready for a capture. And I think a lot of people don’t even realize that they’re ready for it. So we’ll see. So that’s sort of about the goals of the book. I don’t know my intentions from here on in. I think I’m still going to be doing podcasts. I think I’m going to try and make it more interview orientated. If I get any celebrities, man, that’d be so cool. I’ve been looking into the people in the UK. So this is like a really, really niche thing. But trying to get people who have some association to the summer camp, whether they’ve worked there, it’s mostly what they’re if they’re from the UK. And they’re willing to talk about it. Someone like Martin Lewis, for instance.

The Money Saving Expert, there’s more people than just him. You know, in the other podcast episode I talked about Michael Eisner. He’s also someone that lives in the UK and is a fucking billionaire. Is he a billionaire who might have just thrown me under the bus? I don’t think he’s a million. I think he’s a billion. I think he’s a millionaire. Let’s have a look. Yeah, he’s worth a billion pounds. Okay, so yeah, he’s a billionaire. So trying to get someone like that on the podcast would be so cool.

So yeah, we’ll see where it goes, you know, I want to try and get people on. I’m reaching out to people trying to get some cool things. It’s, you know, with a podcast with a book they’re always going to be their new people are going to stumble upon this and if you do, it’s cool. It’s cool just to have an audience. It’s cool. So what’s been happening in the last week or so? Well, we have a YouTube channel now. If you just search for There’s No Place Like Summer Camp on YouTube, it’ll come up with like, the latest episodes and that sort of stuff. It’s a program I released only because a lot of the podcast content that I listened to is actually through YouTube. And I’m sure there’s gonna be loads of you out there that just listen to the same way that I do. I might be the odd one out because I don’t watch Netflix. I don’t watch Amazon Prime or anything like that. Or Disney plus or Marvel films or anything like that. Oh, my go-to is YouTube. And I just thought it would make sense, to make a YouTube channel, have a program that automatically uploads like a template or a video alongside the podcast and you can always listen to it there too. You can also go to the YouTube, you guys, I’m struggling to speak because I’m too excited YouTube channel, you can also go to the YouTube channel to go and watch my unboxing of the There’s No Place Like Summer Camp paperback that came in the post, and you can get to see me open it and be excited because it looks good.

I’m going to be trying to do some short videos to help promote the book, there’s the store as well. So if you’re going to summer camp, or if you’re there at the minute and you’re listening to this, you can always pick up some cool merchandise. And you can represent There’s No Place Like Summer Camp where a t-shirt or something helps spread the name. Because that’s cool. There was a giveaway, and that’s completed now. So I can’t promote the competition anymore. If you want to pick up the book, you have to go to a retailer. And I think that’s pretty much all I can share with you, to be honest, it’s been a ride, you know, what 2016 to 2022, it’s taken me to release this is come on leaps and bounds. Link for the shop: http://theresnoplacelikesummercamp.com/shop

I appreciate all of your support. I’d appreciate it if you go and buy a book or buy a t shirt, just help spread the name. Let me know your reviews of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp if you do go and buy it, I would love to see your feedback. You know, the more feedback and reviews I get, the better it will be for the next time, you know, and it will also help for getting the word out to people that are considering going into camp themselves. So thank you guys, for all your support. Thank you for the Twitter messages. Thank you for Instagram following me. Thank you for listening to all these podcasts because you know six years is a mental amount of time. And I’m sure a lot of you have only come on recently. But it’s good to see that steady growth. And yeah, I greatly appreciate that. As for my next project, I think I’m going to take a step away from summer camp because it’s been my life for six years. And it’s a bit obsessive when you’re trying to recall, dialogues, people’s names, and details about camp filling in the blanks.

So I need to take a step away from There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. And my next book is going to be called The Fly Who Flew Too High. I’ve got an idea in my mind of how that’s going to work. I’ve got a rough script. So that’s exciting. And that’s going to be a children’s book. The book is half-written and it’s a completely different change of pace. It’s not going to be geared towards 18 to 30 year old’s, it’s a kids book. The book is almost there, but I think it’s going to be a 2023 thing or, late 2022. So I’ve always had this idea for this children’s book. And it’s just a different change of pace.

Now, that’s not all there’s going to be in regards to the summer camp side of things. Because I did do a second summer. The second summer will be coming. It’s going to take time to do though, want to step away from the summer camp side of things first before I start on that though. So this second book of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp is probably going to be a 2024 thing. And that’s even that’s calling it quite early. But the fact that I’ve got this through to publication now. And it’s got to a point where I can see that night and day difference between the first or even the 10th version of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp to where it is today. has educated me on how to produce a book how to make it readable to an audience how to make it entertaining, and how to cut the chaff. And I think that’s going to help me to make it quicker the next time and have it just as good if not better quality. So I think we can wrap it up here. Just touching on 25 minutes, man. I appreciate all your guys support and go and check out the book. Please give it a review please spread the word.

Hit me up on Twitter hit me up on Instagram. If you ever want to get in touch and you want to be interviewed by me for the podcast, also get in touch it’d be cool if you’ve been to summer camp before all the better or if you’re considering it, that could be an interesting take. So anyway guys, here’s a deep cheers for me. You can’t see me live my drink here but you might be able to hear me slap it. Till the next time, thanks for this opportunity. And I’ll see you in the next podcast. Cheers guys.

To order the book on Amazon, go here: https://amzn.to/3uwSmm5

Wow, I never realised that the book ACTUALLY LAUNCHES next week. In this episode, I come to that realisation, as well as discussing the merch I still have to this day from my time at summer camp. How I have so many t shirts and other memorabilia that gives me such nostalgia. I’ll see you next week for the book launch!!!

Hello and welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I’m your host Andrew Waterhouse. And in today’s episode, we’re taking a look at the merchandise that I still have from my time at camp. So coming into our tent, and I’ll spill the beans. Hello, everyone.

And welcome back to another episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I hope you’re doing well. It’s very nice hot sunny day today. It’s, beginning to turn into summer now with the clocks having gone forwards. And it’s, it’s really nice to see the, you know, you finish work and it’s nice, hot, sunny still.

Gone are the days for at least 6 months until, you finish you start work and it’s dark, you finish work and it’s dark because they’re so depressing. I really do find that. So, yeah, I’m feeling good. I hope you are too. I hope it’s sunny, at the time you’re listening to this.

Perhaps you’re on a walk, perhaps you’re I don’t know. I don’t know. Listen to me with the windows down in a car. It’s nice. It’s nice to see that summer is very close.

Yeah. It’s really good. So speaking of things that are really close, the book is probably what? When is it out? Let me have a look at the calendar.

Oh, shit. So by the time that this episode actually goes live, this is gonna be the last episode before the book actually goes live. I didn’t realize that. Oh, jeez. Wow.

That’s really cool. So this is the last episode before the book goes live. I didn’t real I really didn’t realize that. Jesus Christ. That’s cool.

That’s so cool. Well, I’ve realized now that’s good at least. So yeah, if in case you don’t know, the book is just around the corner. It releases on the 4th April. I need to make sure that I’ve done everything I can possibly do for this book.

I think I think it is perfectly ready for release. And, this past couple of well, I say this past couple of weeks. This past week, I’ve just been doing so much work on the audiobook. So an audio book is in the works. It’s probably not going to be ready for the 4th, but the paperback, the ebook, and there’s also gonna be a hardback all available on the 4th April.

So I really do hope you enjoy it. I can’t believe. So okay. So this this episode is all about the merchandise I still have from camp. But before we get into that, I have to remind you guys that the competition is still open.

If you want to have a chance of winning your own copy of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. Before anyone else, feel free to enter the competition. It is still live. The competition ends on the first, which is the Friday that you’re listening to this. And, what you can do is you have to go to there’s no place like summer camp dot com forward slash competition.

And in there, you’ll be able to enter your details. All you have to do is follow me on Twitter, follow us on Instagram, and you can also sign up to the newsletter if if you wish. But, yeah, it’s really, really cool. So, I’m getting on a tangent. So to to enter that competition, you have to go to that page.

You have to click on the buttons that it asks you to, and then it can log yourself as a competition entry. You’ve got until the first to enter, and you get to win either a paperback or an ebook version of the book. So it’s really exciting. Really, really cool. In the last episode, we talked about the merchandise shop that is now available on there’s no place like summer camp dot com.

It’s available. You go to there’s no place like summer camp dot com forward slash shop. You’ll be able to pick yourself up some t shirts, some hoodies, there’s towels, there’s water bottles. There’s all sorts of different types of merchandise on there. And if you get it, I think it’s before the book release is.

It might be the week of the book release. I think you’ve got until 10th April to pick up some merchandise if you wish with a discount code where you get 10% off for buying through, before, you know, getting in there before everyone else. So the code is early bird and that’s one word. You get 10% off the merchandise shop. I’m I’ve actually got a couple of shirts on the way to my house, and that’s really cool.

I really want to represent the brand, represent the book, and get the name out there. And, I I really appreciate anyone that purchases the merchandise. And let me know what you think about it when you receive it. You can tweet me on twitter at Andrew W09. So we’ve got the competition that’s still open.

We’ve got the merchandise, shop that’s up with the 10% code early birds to get some money off. And, this episode is all about the, merchandise that I still have from my time at camp because what better segue of, having the shop of my own open than talk about the merchandise that I still have from camp, because that’s part of the real experience of having camp and it how it influences your day to day sort of, reminiscence. Is that a word? Reminiscence? I think it is.

Reminiscence about camp is you pick up a t shirt or you pick up some sort of merchandise that you had from back in your camp days, and you really do treasure those. So in this episode, we’re gonna be talking about the ones that I still have, and, hopefully some of you can relate to that. So starting off this, merchandise that I still have from camp, we have my camp America t shirt. Now that’s the 1st year of well, I I think I’ve got 2 Camp America t shirts. I think I’ve got one for the 1st year that I, volunteered, and then we got the second one through the post for that second summer that I volunteered as well.

Whenever you do sign up through Camp America, they part of your, like, I think it’s about £1,000 that you have to pay to go to Camp America. Part of the, experience or part of what you get, should I say, is a couple of t shirts. And it is really cool to get one of those. Not all sort of summer camp programs offer you that. And it’s good to just go to camp and represent.

And I remember vividly, going into the airport the airports of, Heathrow and, who is it? Not JFK. Newark in New York and Atlanta airport wearing these, Camp America t shirts, and you’re seeing a flood of other people wearing them. It’s really cool. So I still have those T shirts somewhere.

I never wanna get rid of them. It’s one of those sentimental memory boxes, and they’re really cool. My, shirts from my own experience of doing camp, and now this is something that I’ve recently been reading myself because I’ve been recording the audio book. And, I’m probably about a quarter of the way of recording the audiobook in its entirety. And it’s, it’s a lot of hard work to do an audiobook.

I’ll tell you that for free. But anyway, I literally stumbled upon the time that me and my co actually ordered our own shirts to sort of represent ourselves while we were at camp. And to this day, I have a, like, a camp summer camp shrine, I like to call it, where I’ve framed this t shirt that we had custom ordered for the 2 of us. And, it was just so cool. I had to keep it.

I had to keep it framed. It’s got so many memories, and, it would be the main shirt that I would wear while I was at camp and especially on my camp outs, which was my specialty that I taught at summer camp. So, never gonna get rid of that. It’s in its own shrine and beneath the shrine, I’m I I might have to post that to Instagram. I’ve never I don’t think I’ve ever shared it on Instagram.

I have this shrine where the t shirt is framed and then a couple of photos of my best buds from summer camp that are beneath. And sometimes just look at that and just think, oh my god. That shirt has been so been through so much. And, yeah, you can really tell because it’s so worn down, but, there there’s nothing I’ll change about it. Okay.

So there’s a couple of other, bits of bits of t shirt memorabilia that I still have from summer camp. And, these two shirts are the shirts that I actually got from my own camp when I was volunteering there. And that’s some of the cool things that I think pretty much most summer camps you think would offer. It’s for basically showing what year you had volunteered at your summer camp and sort of representing your own camp for when parents are coming and you want the camp to look professional. So, my camp gave us one shirt for the 2014 year that we volunteered and another for the 2015, and it was really cool.

The shirts themselves, the first shirt was really cool. It was a really cool shirt because it was the first time I had ever seen such a thing and, it felt like I was, accepted into their sort of folklore or history or into their group by having that first shirt. But the second shirt for me, it wasn’t as good because it was just the literally the same design as the first shirt, but just in a color red. And, I’m just getting off on such a tangent here, but it wasn’t it wasn’t anything to write home about just because it was in a color red, you know. All of the people that had done the 1st summer were, like, tweeting and asking me on Facebook, oh, what what’s the what’s the shirt like for this year?

And I’ll be like, you’re not you’re not really missing out much here, mate, because, because it’s just literally the shirt you already have, but it’s in red because, yeah. I don’t know why they made that decision. But people would be curious because not everyone went to summer camp twice like I did, and that sort of is touched upon in the second book that is gonna be coming, I don’t know when that’s gonna be coming, but that’ll be in that’ll be in the works. That’ll be released at some point, and I’m sure you’ll hear about it on here. So I have 2 shirts from, volunteering at my own camp.

And so far, we have 5 t shirts. And that’s pretty crazy, but that’s that’s really a part of the, I don’t know, the the the thing, I guess, about volunteering at a summer camp is the t shirts. They’re so you look back on these shirts and you think how many memories do these shirts hold because you’re wearing them all the time and you’re rotating through them all the time. And they’re not cringey. They’re not that’s the thing about summer camp.

You can wear what you want really to an extent. Obviously, nothing that’s gonna be unsafe for kids or anything stupid. Like, come on. But if you if you fancy wearing some tie dye shirts, which is the 6th shirt that I totally forgot about, I do have a tie dye shirt somewhere. No one’s gonna really judge you, and, it’s really cool.

Like, loads of people wear these cool shirts that you wouldn’t normally wear outside the bubble, and it’s really cool. So talking about the tie dye shirt, that was something I did in my 2nd summer, and it wasn’t really something that had much memories for me because I put it on once and I thought, oh my god. I can see it radiate from my body, and it was just too much to wear. It was too much, and it was too cringey, and I just had to take it off. So, yeah.

The the tie dye shirt, it was cool to make. I’ve never done one, and haven’t done one since. So it was cool to do that. It was a really crafty thing to do, but I didn’t wear it. And it it doesn’t really hold much memories for me.

But I know 100 and thousands of you out there, your tie dye shirts are gonna mean so much. So that’s a 6th t shirt. Jesus Christ. Right. Moving away from the t shirts now.

So I have a couple of camp socks. Now this is a real strange one, because I was when I received these, I was like, okay. Why are we giving why be why are we why are we being given socks? It didn’t make sense. And these were big thick woolly socks, and it was given to us by the camp.

And now this is a camp in the middle of Atlanta and in the middle of summer. So why we were being given these big thick woolly socks? I’ll never know. So I never wore them while I was at camp. And, it’s only been recently with the change in weather, and the hike in gas prices and all of that sort of thing, where I’ve sort of taken these socks out of their packaging, so to speak, and put them on.

And they’re so nice. They’re so nice and warm, and it represents the camp that I went to. So, yeah, that’s, that’s another piece of memorabilia that I still have from my summer camp. Really cool. Now I’m getting on to other bits of memorabilia that I still have from camp, but these aren’t so much more official than, the ones that have gone prior.

So far, we’ve had 6 fucking t shirts and one pair of socks. They’re all official. They’re all official type things, but these are the more, sentimental in a weird sort of way, type of memorabilia that I still have. And I look back at summer camp and think, oh, man. That was so, so, so good.

Such a good time. The the first one is my top another fucking t shirt. 7 t shirts in this list. Bloody hell. If my t shirts do not get any sales, I am gonna be fuming.

Right. I’ve got 2 on the way, so I guess those count. So, the top that I’m thinking of in this instance is the universal top that I have. We went to Universal Studios in my 2nd year of, travels after doing Camp America for the 2nd year. I still have that t shirt.

I still wear it. It I bought it at the time knowing I was getting ripped off because it was like $35. But I remember buying it thinking, I’ve gone to fucking Universal Studios in Florida, and I never dreamt that I’d ever be able to do such a thing. And it was so cool to be able to say I’ve done that. And that’s not trying to sound like I’m bragging or anything because everyone that does summer camp has really sort of like a once in a lifetime experience.

But we sort of topped it off with the travels afterwards. So I imagine that there’s gonna be plenty of you listening, especially those that have done it in the past. Or if you have summer camp coming up where you’ll be travelling afterwards and you’ll pick up bits and bobs along the way, and you remind yourself of those travels. I know a lot of people used to do, Camp America treks and that sort of thing. Perfect time to start picking up some special memorabilia from all of the places and the, you know, the really cool tourist locations that they take you to.

Yeah. So the mine in this instance is the universal top. The next one, and it’s not so much something that’s official from camp, but I still have those water bottles from my time at summer camp. And it’s one of those things that only when you’re at summer camp you realize how often you need the thing because it’s so hot, so humid. You’re doing so many activities that you need water on you all the time.

And, it’s it’s nuts how often you need it. It’s always on you. There’s gonna be photos of you standing there, happening to be hold holding a water bottle. I still have those and I remember every time I have like this water out of this particular, bottle, I think, oh my god, this is still with me. Like, what’s going on here?

It’s a weird one, I know, but, I always, for some reason, the water bottles take me back. Now one of the things that I lost, I had actually had a piece of merchandise that I lost, was a, a rope that I did in rope burn. And if you wanna hear more about the rope burn story, I’d highly recommend picking up my book because it has all of the details in there. But essentially what rope burn was is a small segment of the color war type events, and I was in that for one of the sessions. And as part of the ceremony, you’re sort of given a segment of this rope to carry back with you.

Now I was really cherishing this piece of charred rope, until I started to had had to, like, pack my suitcase for the travels after camp. And this charred piece of rope would really stink out my suitcase because it was, like, full of charcoal and smoky smells, and I couldn’t really travel with it even with it being inside, like, a plastic bag or anything. Because now we were starting to actually travel outside of the camp bubble, and it wasn’t something that I could really wear in anywhere if if my normal t shirts and jeans and shoes would stink of smoke. And I’ll just be, I don’t know, at Washington Monument or the White House. It wouldn’t really work.

So I had to leave that behind. And I say I lost it, but I think it was a conscious decision at the time to leave it behind. And it’s sad times because I’d have loved to have been able to have maybe brought it back with me and have it in some sort of box as well because it was a really cool time from camp. But, unfortunately, that’s when I left behind. Okay.

So we’re at the end of this episode here, guys. I hope you enjoyed this one. Like I say, we’re in the final straight of the book being released. At the time of recording, it’s what just shy of well, even at the time this gets released, to be honest, we’re about a week away from, there’s no place like summer camp being available. So I know some people have, like, questions about where you can actually pick up the book.

If you go to Amazon at the minute, you type in there’s no place like summer camp. No matter which country you’re in, my essay, you’ll be able to see the book available in, Kindle version available to preorder. Now I’m not sure about you, but, I prefer my books in paperback. And now the unfortunate thing about paperbacks on Amazon is they don’t let you pre order them, which is really strange. So I’m having to tell people this, like, 1 by 1 when they ask me the question.

But it is going to be released as a paperback and a hardback on 4th at the same time. It’s just a shame that you can’t pre order those in advance because I I don’t understand. I don’t know why not. It’s a weird Amazon thing. So it’s gonna be available on Amazon 100% on the 4th April.

Now in the way that I’ve published this book, it’s not like the other sort of self published books that you see. This can be really picked up in any bookstore, and it can be picked up in any library. It’s not an Amazon exclusive. It can be picked up in Apple iBooks. It can be picked up in Kobo.

It can be picked up in, Waterstones, WH Smiths, any independent book retailer, anywhere like that. They will be able to search a library. I say a library, sort of like a book catalog to find the book, and they’ll be able to order it themselves. So I really do need to help, get the name out there because I can’t push Waterstones and WH Smiths to stock my book. They have to stumble upon it themselves.

And, yeah, it’s really cool. So there’s that that’s going to be coming as well. It’s not an Amazon exclusive. So if you do see it in another store, please feel free to tweet me or Instagram me or something. Or if or if there’s a retailer you think that would listen to you, go ahead and say, go and pick up There’s No Place Like Summer Camp.

It’s great. Or at least read it yourself and see what you think, and then let know. That’d be really cool. So it’s not an Amazon exclusive. It can be anywhere.

It would be so fucking insane if I stumble through, Waterstones and see my book on the shelves ready for someone’s water. And if I ever do see that, you’ll be the first to hear about it. Trust me. So, yeah, it’s not an Amazon exclusive, but it will be there on day 1. As for other retailers, it’s a case of if they pick it if they pick it up.

I hope they do. A lot of work has gone into it. A lot of work has gone into the paperback in particular. So if if if I had to recommend one version, I would recommend the paperback. It’s something that you’d be able to travel with.

It’s a size that’s, you know, suitable for a train or plane or anything like that. I personally a lot of pages to this. And that’s something that you’ll be surprised by is literally, pages to this, and that’s something that you’ll be surprised by is literally how much content I have crammed into this thing. It’s really cool. It’s a really cool project, actually, see come to an end, really.

And, like you heard at the start of this episode, I didn’t realize that it’s actually the last episode you’ll hear from me before the book actually gets released. I should have really prepared something that’s a bit more poetic, I guess. But it’s been a good run. It’s been a good run. I think what this is, like, near to the 80th episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp.

It’s been a it’s been a case of years of work. There’s a lot of people that I would thank, but it’s all in the book. I think it holds it stands on its own 2 feet now, and it’s in a place where it can really do justice to how good summer camp can be. And I hope that people that are listening to these podcasts are not just the people that have done summer camp before, but also those that, are considering doing camp. And I think it will paint a good picture of how good it can be and hopefully influence you to go and have the time of your lives too.

So thank you for all your support. Thank you for following me on Twitter and Instagram. Remember, if you do, you can enter the competition, which is free, and you can win your own copy, but you only have a few more days, to get your entries in. So go to there’s no place like summer camp dot com to enter. And there’s also the merchandise shop as well.

We’re all we’re kicking on all fucking cylinders here. We’ve got the merchandise shop where you can pick up your own t shirts. You can represent. There’s no place like summer camp at your own camps, and help spread the word of the podcast and the book. It’s, been a great ride with you guys.

Next week’s episode is gonna be all about the book launch. I I don’t know what to say. It’s it’s a bit that’s that’s like nuts for me to say. What? 6 years in the works, man.

And next week’s episode is all about the book launch. So I think we’re gonna leave it here. It’s it’s, surreal in a way that it’s live. I I I I don’t even know what to say. Like, normally, with these episodes, I record them over a weekend, but I’m thinking next week, because the book launches on Tuesday, aka next week from the time you hear this, I might have to record and upload the podcast on the same day or, I don’t know, the day before on that Monday that it actually drops.

I don’t know. It’s exciting. But that’s what you can tell what the next week’s episode is gonna be all about. It’s gonna be a celebration. It’s gonna be a good time to have the book finally out there.

I know so many people have asked me what’s going on with the book? Has it progressed? Is it good? What format is it gonna be on? Where can I buy it?

Where’s the paperback? Where’s this? Where’s that? What’s it about? There’s so many people that don’t realize that I actually went to a Jewish summer camp and how that sort of plays into the book as well because I’m not religious as you may be able to tell.

I’m not Jewish or anything like that, but it really adds sort of another dimension to the book. And it doesn’t come across as being all unicorns and rainbows like you think summer camp can be. It really does tell the whole story. It tells you everything, and I hope it takes you on sort of like a travel wanderlust type experience that makes you want to see more of the world, to be honest. So like I say, next week the book releases.

If you want to go and pre order the paper, the Kindle ebook, you can do so right now on Amazon. If you would rather wait for the paperback, that will be dropping on 4th, and you can order that for, you know, prime delivery. Hardback also releases on that date too. And the audiobook, that will be, probably later in the month. And, yeah, I just have to say thank you to everyone for listening.

Thank thank you for your support. I I don’t really know how to tie this off, to be honest. Like, it’s next week. It’s next week the book goes live. So I hope you enjoy it.

Like I say, paperback is my version of choice. You have the full, like, cover art. You have it feels great in the hands. And I couldn’t be more proud. The amount of work that I’ve put into this thing, I hope I hope people will appreciate that this sort of hits a niche that is full of passionate people, and, I’m chuffed, to be honest.

It’s it’s strange looking back. I couldn’t have done it by myself. A lot of it is by myself. I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet or or anything. But, there’s been my cover designer.

There’s been my editor. There’s been my formatter. There’s been people around me that have supported me. But we’ll touch upon that in the next episode. Anyway, guys, I hope you enjoyed.

I’ll see you next week. Goodbye.