You're listening to the skeptics guide to the universe.

Your escape to reality.

Hello and welcome to the skeptics guide to the universe.

Today is Thursday, May 21st, 2026, and this is your host, Stephen Novella.

Joining me this week are Bob Novella.

Hey, everybody.

Kara and Santa Maria.

Howdy? Jay Novella. Hey, guys. And Evan Bernstein. Good afternoon, everyone. Is everybody set to go to Australia, New Zealand, got all your things that you need? Well. I got reminders about the things I still need. Right. How is it almost already June? Right. And you know it's after June. July. And that's when we're going. Like, boy, crap. Steve, you know, that's a loaded question for me because I have an incredible, you know, like my, I'm not just thinking like baggage and, you know, what's my plane seat going to be like? I'm like, I'm, I had the whole thing on my head so but things are going good I'm like in a mad swag ordering phase right now but I also you know

anytime we do any kind of trip I verify everything you know it's meaning like I check that

our hotel rooms our cars you know hundreds of points to. Yeah. Which is why we need the constant reminders that we get. Thank goodness. And you're very good about that. I appreciate it. And yeah, so apparently you need a passport to leave the country. Who knew? No, I'm kidding. Not fair. It's good. And you need an entry visa to get into these other countries. Yep. But I don't have a visa credit card. You need a visa credit card to shop at Costco. It's weird. Should we say at this point, should we just like say we're Canadian or something? Would that help? I think they also need visas. Maybe not actually. Do you have a Canadian visa, Bob? No, but I just don't, you know. No, then it's more trouble than it's worth, Bob. I'm Canadian. Hand them your American passport. Just, Bob, just when you show it to them, just put your thumb over the country, hey, there it is. See, see, that's me.

This is the number.

I'm good.

But trust me, all this stuff that feels annoying now, which actually isn't annoying, it's like five minutes of work, makes it so that when you get to the country, you just walk right in. You don't have to wait in those really long cues. Even, and not even walk, you could potentially even just waltz, you know?

Yeah, you could cut it with ush.

Or sashet. I prefer to sashet.

Yes, she's just true.

Yeah.

Sontor. And not even walk, you could potentially even just waltz, you know, just like, or sashay. I prefer to sashay. Yeah, saunter. Yeah. Saunter. Lope. Here, I can't tell you how many times, you know, we, all the years that we've traveled, where we use the global entry and we get into like this really short line to get through customs. And you look at the 3,000 people that are in that queue. And it's such a, it's like, oh my God, thank God, I don't have to do that. It's not even, and now it's like, it's not even a line at global entry. You don't even use the key. Remember you used to have to use the kiosk since the end of your passport and they give you the ticket. Now you just look at the camera and then you just walk forward.

Look at the camera.

It's so fast.

I love it.

All right, Jay, we're going to dive right in.

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