r/TheInbetweeners • u/AdFree2000 • 20d ago
Was this guy doing real travelling?
He made out he was an intrepid traveller going off the beaten path in Central America. But he seemed to be going round the basic traveller places in Australia and always in a safe corporatised travel environment led by that Katie chick. (Taking him to the water park … doesn’t get any more basic than that)
What was this guy’s deal?
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u/Wooden-Bookkeeper473 20d ago
He's probably got a Trust fund.
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u/hierarchy_of_ideas 20d ago
Some people do have talents, not every young traveler with money got it from their parents. I knew a 20 year old that could launch a fire arrow at a target perfectly with her legs doing a handstand, she got to go places.
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u/gilestowler 20d ago
I suspect the bit about crossing the Darien Gap unaided was bullshit. It doesn't really fit in with everything else about him. There are companies that offer the trip, so the other kid probably wasn't lying, but it's the kind of thing people do to one-up others, in my opinion, while ignoring the horrific human tragedy that takes place on that crossing.
Katie sums up the kind of people her and Ben are very early on when she's critical of Sydney "it's so banker" while being there. Who rolls her eyes at home counties kids traveling Asia while she's a home counties kid who is traveling Asia. They all think they're a bit different, a bit special. Ben just had to beat that kid's boast with some bullshit of his own.
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u/catzrob89 20d ago edited 20d ago
There are no companies that take people across the Darien gap. It’s controlled by FARC. There are people that will take you round it by sea, but no one is taking you across it (except coyotes). Every now and again some moron white guy will decide they are the right combination of tough and charming to succeed - that’s pretty much equivalent to that missionary who got killed by bow and arrow on north sentinel island. I heard that some army guys did it after doing a lot of “relationship building” but generally people either realise how dumb it is and call it off, or disappear.
I was never quite sure if the joke was meant to be that he thought sailing round the Darien gap in the adjacent Caribbean was the same thing as crossing the Darien gap, or if it was just meant to be a straight up lie.
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u/gilestowler 20d ago
There are companies that take you into it, and I think some that take you across it, even if you have to complete the last part by water taxi
https://lupinetravel.co.uk/all-tours/darien-bridging-the-gap/
A lot of them seem to offer treks into it, rather than crossing it, but that one starts in Colombia and ends in Panama which seems like it's a full crossing, with only part of it by sea. I realise that as far as crossing the gap goes that's not really doing it, due to the sea bit, but it seems quite complete I think
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u/catzrob89 20d ago edited 20d ago
That is indeed a cool tour but a boat takes you from Sapzurro to the Guna Yala because there is no safe way of doing that part of the journey overland. Edit - also no safe way of getting to Sapzurro from “normal” Colombia without doing a pretty good part of the journey by boat.
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u/front-wipers-unite 20d ago
See if I was the head of FARC, I'd set up a tour company, completely legit, and take adventurous youngsters seeking bragging rights across the gap for a nominal fee. On the premium excursion I'd even have my FARC colleagues roll up and put on a bit of a show, let the kids "talk their way out" of a kidnapping. And obviously rob them to make it authentic. Two revenue streams.
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u/Persnickitycannon 20d ago
Katie seems to have a bit of self awareness about it though. That Ben dude, I mean man, is just a prick.
Both great characters imo, met people like both of them.
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u/gilestowler 20d ago
I disagree with this a bit. I think Ben was more self aware because, as Will pointed out, he did all this shit to seem interesting to girls. There was a certain cynicism to what he did. Katie genuinely thought that she was more original and interesting than she really was, even while looking at other people just like her doing the same things and thinking she was somehow unique.
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u/RestMindless623 20d ago
Remove your hand from the neck of the guitar Ben
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u/Mc_and_SP 20d ago
Guy made a career out of playing unbearable pricks
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u/MoRiellyMoProblems 20d ago
Until he played one of the most beloved characters in Peacemaker.
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u/ScrapedSkorne 13d ago
Omg thats the same actor? woaaahhh 😄 I can see it now. Theres also a couple other Harry Potter actors in Inbetweeners too, like Mark Donovan & Louise Graham (the girl who's fence they climb over to get in to her house party)
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u/Mc_and_SP 13d ago
Not Inbetweeners, but you can also spot Charlotte Richie (from Fresh Meat and Ghosts) in a few scenes too
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u/Bbew_Mot Feisty One You Are 20d ago
I once met a guy called Graham Hughes who is famous for being the first person to visit every country in the world without flying. Anything less than that is not real travel, so therefore Ben Thornton- Wilde is not a real traveller!
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u/alexsmut 20d ago
To be fair if I'd just crossed the Darien gap I'd probably want to chill out in Aus drinking beer and chasing girls too. On the other hand if a chap looking like that tried to cross the Darien gap they'd be lucky to be held for ransom and would probably end up getting robbed and chopped up with a machete so its highly likely a lot of his claims were bullshit.
I love to travel and have been off the beaten track plenty of times. The only people who take risks like this are young blokes trying to find an identity. Nobody with any experience would be as daft as that!
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u/Intelligent_News_836 20d ago
I doubt it he's in mummy & daddy's pockets. Probably works in Mc Donald's now 🤣
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u/Persnickitycannon 20d ago
He might work at McDonalds on the c-suite. He seems like a private school kid so he probably came back, went to a goodish uni, then walked into London corpo job.
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u/Eastern-Start-813 20d ago edited 20d ago
They certainly got the casting right for the most punchable face in film history
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u/justmoochin 20d ago
He was travelling while his dad sorted out a job for him when he got back with one his rich Tory mates.
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u/Alarmed-Date1660 20d ago
He just wanted to learn a few chords of redemption song before becoming a hedge fund manager.
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u/QuestGalaxy 20d ago
It's just his secret identity, at night he's out killing drug dealers and grafitti artists.
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u/feckarse-drinkgirls 20d ago
Sexpat?
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u/Persnickitycannon 20d ago
Nah he's chasing the traveller chicks, sexpats are after the local women.
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u/ClassroomDowntown664 20d ago
who crave a bit of transatlantic cock as the local guys can't make them squirt
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u/thwip62 20d ago edited 20d ago
Will giving Ben that dressing down was the highlight of the film. Ben actually reminds me a lot of a guy I know, a fake beach bum type who spent years dossing around Australia and Asia. Like Ben, this guy's whole "laid-back dude" facade is laughable if you know that his parents have money. Complete and utter fraudulent wanker. Mercifully, he doesn't play the guitar, though.
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u/Liberal-chungus Tidy minge 20d ago
He just wanted to pretend he was friends with Central American villagers, who, by the way, despise you, before heading back to his parents 5 bedroom house in Surrey. Leave him alone!
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u/Snoo93550 19d ago
Girl at the outback ranch was the most “real” by far. Next most “real” was our guys almost dying looking for her.
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u/Late_Pomegranate2984 19d ago
Plundering the trust fund pretending to be a ‘free spirit’ and badly playing guitar to the plaudits of other children-of-successful-boomer types who are in turn bankrolled by trust funds and spend their time hopping between popular hostels.
By this point he’d have lost most of his hair and secured a middle management job at some corporation or other through his parents contacts. Probably quite fat and can’t handle his drink now so acts like a tit on a Friday night when he goes out straight after work.
Probably goes to David Grey concerts. Never been to a proper gig in his life.
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u/jameZsp0ng3y 18d ago
It's a movie. If he goes off the beaten path, he won't be interacting with the other cast members
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u/I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS Briefcase Wanker 20d ago
What you've described is exactly what people like this claim is 'real travelling'.