Battle of the Torringtons & Travel Recs

Summary

The Nightly – “Battle of the Torringtons & Travel Recs”

May 6, 2026 | Hosted by Matt Bragg and KP Parker

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Episode Theme Overview

In this cozy, late-night installment, Matt Bragg and KP Parker chat about travel aspirations, quirky sightseeing recommendations in Tucson (AZ), Exeter (UK), and the rivalry of “The Two Torringtons”—one in Connecticut, one in England. Infused with signature wit and playful bickering, their conversation offers a blend of personal storytelling, travel planning, and the whimsy of oddball tourist attractions. The episode’s informal tone makes it a gentle send-off to sleep, with enough fun travel fodder to inspire future adventures.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Needing a Vacation and Planning Getaways

[00:31 – 03:40]

• KP admits feeling the ever-present urge for a vacation, even as someone who “only works medium hard.” Matt commiserates, joking with KP about “people with real jobs” getting one vacation a year while they fantasize about monthly trips.
• KP is planning a trip to Tucson, Arizona for her boyfriend’s birthday—and has only loosely scheduled it around a visit to the Titan Missile Museum.
• Notable moment: Matt is delighted at KP’s attention to her boyfriend’s unusual wish list.
  “It's not every day you hear that. . . . I'm jotting that down. Now I finally have a chance to activate.” – KP [02:38]

2. Curating the Tucson Itinerary

[03:41 – 10:13]

• KP and Matt browse TripAdvisor live, unearthing a string of quirky Tucson must-sees:
  • Titan Missile Museum: Centerpiece of the trip, former Cold War silo turned museum.
  • Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures: KP expresses delight at the craftsmanship (“I’m very in awe of people that can do miniatures. It’s such detailed work.” [05:25]), and Matt raves about a “Dogs Playing Poker” miniature setup.
    • “The door to get in is massive. So that you feel like a miniature.” – KP [07:08]
  • Trail Dust Town: Described as a colorful “Wild West town” with review tips like:
    • “Get your sandbags when you buy your tokens and do bring earplugs. So means nothing. But I assume it's a riddle.” – Matt [09:01]
• The duo delight in the weird specificity of American roadside and “mini-museums,” comparing notes on similar oddities in Wisconsin Dells and LA.

3. Matt’s UK Trip: Exeter & Great Torrington

[10:13 – 18:00]

• Matt seeks KP’s advice for an upcoming work trip to Exeter (SW England) and Great Torrington.
• KP quickly scouts Exeter’s Bill Douglas Cinema Museum (“the foremost collection on cinema and moving image history in Britain”), but both are underwhelmed by the highlights (“posters, handbills, books. . . I'll be honest, I’m a little underwhelmed.” – Matt [11:55]).
• Discussion pivots to Exeter's underground medieval tunnels: Matt enthuses, “That is a bit of me. I love an underground passage” [12:33]. KP draws the distinction between fun tunnels and terrifying caves like “Knotty Potty.”
• Accommodation talk: Matt will stay at a modest Travelodge by the M5, joking about “an ensuite road” [14:14].

4. Battle of the Torringtons: UK versus Connecticut

[14:32 – 18:16]

• They compare notes between Great Torrington (UK) and Torrington (CT, USA)—echoing the naming migrations from England to New England:
  • UK: “Two pubs, three. . . four pubs. . . an alpaca, a church.” – Matt [16:13]
  • CT: “Emergency expedited passport shop, children’s museum, wildlife foundation (zebra and yaks!), Sunnybrook State Park, good pizza.” – KP [16:37]
• KP gives the edge to Connecticut: “I am going to give this one to Connecticut” [17:44], though both admit UK Torrington is more picturesque.
• “If you could just switch your performance over to Connecticut, I think you’ll have a better time.” – KP [18:07]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Matt (on vacation envy):
  “There are people with real jobs and real backbreaking labor that take one vacation a year, and I go, ugh, I need one a month at this point.” [00:53]
• KP (on personalized travel planning):
  “He mentioned once really early on that he’s always wanted to go see them. And so that is the only plan I have currently.” [02:26]
• KP (on miniatures):
  “I’m very in awe of people that can do miniatures. It is such detailed work.” [05:25]
• Matt (on eccentric TripAdvisor advice):
  “Get your sandbags when you buy your tokens and do bring earplugs. So means nothing. But I assume it’s a riddle.” [09:01]
• Matt (choosing quirky over conventional museums):
  “I'll be honest, I'm a little underwhelmed … Let's move on. Sorry, Bill.” [11:55]
• KP (on Torrington rivalry):
  “Alpaca versus zebra … kind of funny looking too.” [16:47]
• Matt (on the soundscape of budget lodging):
  “You’ve basically got an ensuite road. Not ideal, but I can live with it.” [14:14]

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Memorable Segment Timestamps

• [03:41–10:13] – Tucson trip brainstorming; mini-museum deep-dive, Wild West eccentricities
• [12:13–13:26] – Exeter’s medieval tunnels vs. caving phobias
• [14:32–18:16] – “Battle of the Torringtons” side-by-side analysis (alapca vs. zebra debate)
• [18:49–19:16] – Lighthearted bedtime shoutouts to eccentric TripAdvisor users and the Bill Douglas Museum

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Flow & Tone

The episode is warm, conversational, and irreverently curious—the hosts riff off each other with gentle jabs and genuine enthusiasm for travel oddities. KP’s careful yet spontaneous approach perfectly balances Matt’s wry, skeptical energy. The structure loosely follows their own travel planning, but diversions and personal anecdotes make it both informative and charmingly meandering.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

If you didn’t catch the episode, you’ll leave this summary with a raft of whimsical trip ideas (Titan Missile Museum! Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures! Ancient tunnels! Alpaca v. Zebra!), a sense of the hosts’ playful chemistry, and the knowledge that sometimes, the best vacation plans are born of curiosity, good humor, and the lure of something just a bit off the beaten path.

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Note: All timestamps refer to content segments. Advertisements and podcast promos have been omitted.

Transcript

[A]

Hello. You're about to drift into an episode of the Nightly, a podcast designed to help you unwind and relax. For the full phone free immersive light experience, visit Hatch Co. Enjoy. All right, I'm Mat.

[B]

I'm kp. Welcome to the Nightly from Hatch, where your late night thoughts go to rest. I'll tell you what my thought has been. I think I really need a vacation. That's what I've been thinking.

[A]

I always think that. And I don't necessarily know if I do or not. I feel like I do.

[B]

It's great for someone that only works medium hard, which is me. I just always feel like I need one. There are people with real jobs and real backbreaking labor that take one vacation a year and I go, ugh, I need one a month at this point. Yeah.

[A]

I've got a friend of mine is. He uploads some, like, comedy sketches and stuff to Instagram. And we were talking in a dressing room the other night and someone said to him, God, it's amazing you've kept that up every Monday. He's put a little sketch up every month for the last four years. Wow, that is incredible. And he was like, we are sort of. I mean, it's 60 seconds over four years. It does work out to less than three hours work.

[B]

It's really super easy, in fact.

[A]

Yeah, when you put it like that.

[B]

Yeah. I do have luckily a little vacation coming up, but I really have not planned it as well as I should. So I'm wondering if you and I. Do you have something coming up? A little vacation?

[A]

Well, not vacation, but I'm working away this coming weekend so we could help each other plan. Yeah, let's sort of plan out. Where are you off to, kp?

[B]

I am going to Tucson, Arizona.

[A]

Okay. And is this, this is vacation, is it not work?

[B]

This is. Yeah, this is a quick little trip for my boyfriend's birthday and I'm taking him to Tucson. Cause it's drivable. You know, it's a seven and a half hour drive. So it's a hefty drive, but it's drivable. And they have an abandoned missile silo. There's.

[A]

That sounds excellent.

[B]

Yeah. This is a real. He mentioned once really early on that he's always wanted to go see them. And so that is the only plan I have currently.

[A]

But that's really well remembered though. Well done. That's.

[B]

It's not every day. You hear that. Yeah, Yeah. I just was like, ah, I'm jotting that down. And now I finally Have a chance to activate.

[A]

What's the missile silo called?

[B]

The Titan Missile museum is where we're gonna go. And it does look very, very cool. And I've heard if you're into this sort of thing, it's really fun.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And it's decommissioned. You know, there's nothing. There's no danger. Of course, it's not active. But they made a lot of these silos, I guess, during the cold war, just to make sure that we had them.

[A]

That's really cool. And so have they built, like, a museum and stuff around it then?

[B]

Yeah. You can go down into the silo. And there is one. I mean, in Roswell, New Mexico, they have another one, and that one has been turned into. So you can stay in the silo. That's where you're sleeping.

[A]

That's so cool.

[B]

This seemed like it would really hit a lot of things that he was excited about 100%.

[A]

I mean, if that were me, that's a dream trip already. And you've only got one thing on the itinerary.

[B]

This is a real, like, if you like it, you're gonna love it.

[A]

And so is that. Is that you've got other stuff around it. Right. How long are you going for?

[B]

I really don't. That's why I need your help. I mean, all I know is we're gonna go to this one one day, but I' for a weekend, so I need some food. I don't even have the stay yet. I'll have to find a place to sleep. And then just if there's. It seems like there's a few other cool little museums in Tucson, so I'm like, okay, I might hit another one.

[A]

There is. I'm actually just looking at TripAdvisor for Tucson.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that missile silo, which is arguably one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Doesn't even make the top 10.

[B]

See, but that's good. I like it being a little. You have to find your way into it, you know?

[A]

Yeah. And there's loads of other stuff, which is. I mean, there's the Gaslight theater. You've been there before, haven't you?

[B]

I haven't.

[A]

You have. You have. You've been to the Gaslight Theatre.

[B]

Oh, my God. That is really, really good, folks.

[A]

That is at number 11 on TripAdvisor for Tucson, but should be bumped up to number one just for that alone.

[B]

That is really good.

[A]

Pima Air and space Museum. That looks good.

[B]

I mean, if we haven't had enough of, you know, the science learnings and history. I'm also seeing. I mean this is. This would really be for my birthday, a mini time machine Museum of miniatures.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Wouldn't that be really fun? Yes.

[A]

Now we're talking, right?

[B]

Miniatures would be really fun to take a look at.

[A]

What sort of stuff? It's coming in at number 14 on TripAdvisor. I think that's too low.

[B]

It looks really cool. I'm very in awe of people that can do miniatures. It is such detailed work.

[A]

I did a run of shows in Europe two years ago and there's a comedian from the States, Sarah Schaefer. Yep, she's great. And we had like five weeks together two years ago. And at the end of it she gave me a miniature. It was like a miniature Danish pastry that she made.

[B]

That is so. She's incredible with it. She's so artistic.

[A]

It's amazing.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. She had a run of shirts years and like 10 years ago and just said men aren't funny on it. And I thought that's kind of a fun one to wear around. I'll try that. So I had that shirt.

[A]

I mean, very hurtful, sure, but yeah, absolutely.

[B]

Really hits you in the gut. But. Wow. This miniatures museum, I'm just looking through. So I'm seeing there's a lot of different theming. Like there is one right now where it's like a moss covered castle. Like a Victorian turreted stone castle with moss all on it. That looks really beautiful. And then I'm seeing more just elaborate. There's chandeliers with light on them. In some of these, I mean there's real lighting, but tiny, tiny, tiny.

[A]

I think my favorite one so far is Dogs Playing Poker.

[B]

Oh, see, I haven't gotten to that point.

[A]

There's a miniature of that and it's the perfect room. Chairs, poker table, little clock on the wall. But it's all tiny. This is great.

[B]

And the door to get in, get this, the door to get in is massive. So that you feel like a miniature.

[A]

Clever.

[B]

So you get a little photo op there.

[A]

We've got 657 reviews that are all like 4 and 5. Start only if you're interested in miniatures,

[B]

says Oliver S. That makes sense to me.

[A]

I think it's good advice if you go into the many time museum of Miniatures.

[B]

I didn't know Tucson had just such specific little museums. There's a place in the Midwest here called the Wisconsin Dells that is kind of a whole city of odd museums like this and water parks. It's just a Real, like, amusement city.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And they have some interesting stuff like this. Like, I think there's like a museum of the upside down. Everything's kind of upside down. There's a lot of different, like, really specific museums. LA has that too. A little where it's like museum of breakups. I think we have.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. So I've added something to my trip. A mini time machine museum of miniatures.

[A]

And I want to give to you as well. The Trail Dust Town. Whoa. This is at number 19 on TripAdvisor. Pinnacle Peak and Trail Dust Town are rich with their own history. And people come from all over the world to experience the Old West. At these centerpieces of Tucson, I am beside myself.

[B]

This is so darn cute.

[A]

It looks amazing, doesn't it? It's like a little like a Wild west town.

[B]

Yep. But it's all very colorful, which is kind of cool. So this is definitely kid. Kid focused. Or, you know, a kid would have fun here at least, because it is a lot of colors. It's a lot of. It almost looks like a part of Disney where you're like, oh, this is the pioneer town. But a little cooler, a little more interesting.

[A]

And there is a tip as well on the TripAdvisor CA. Girl411 says, get your sandbags when you buy your tokens and do bring earplugs. So means nothing. But I assume it's a riddle.

[B]

It's a troll under a bridge giving us a riddle to enter.

[A]

Maybe it makes sense once you're there. But yeah. Get your sandbags.

[B]

Get your sandbags and your earplugs. What?

[A]

When you buy your tokens.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. Three things I never put together, I guess. And it's right next to the miniatures.

[A]

Oh, is it?

[B]

It's right across the street.

[A]

Oh, okay. Right. Well, this is coming together, isn't it? So you've got the missile silo. Miniatures. Wild West.

[B]

This is great. And this is one of those things that it's like, you have to support this because you don't want this to go out of business.

[A]

Review from April 2018 though. Have fun. Lots of parking.

[B]

Ah.

[A]

It does appear to only be open from 5pm until 9pm which is quite niche.

[B]

I saw that too. And I was like, surely there's some. Because I'm seeing photos from the daytime, so I thought maybe. Maybe there was sunlight. But okay.

[A]

Anyway.

[B]

Okay. I feel really full. The weekend is going to be really full. What can I do for you? Where are you headed?

[A]

I am headed to Exeter in the first instance. And then on to a place called Great Torrington. So Exeter First.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

Would be great. It's down sort of southwest of England.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

It's sort of by the sea, which is good.

[B]

All right. You're a guy that likes movies. Yeah.

[A]

I don't mind a movie.

[B]

Yeah. What about the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum?

[A]

Okay. Who's Bill Douglas?

[B]

I'm sure I don't want to spoil it. You'll probably learn that when you get there.

[A]

Just a guy who owns a museum, I guess.

[B]

This is the foremost collection on cinema and moving image history in Britain. So this is nothing. This is nothing small.

[A]

I'd be so surprised if that's true.

[B]

Bill Douglas wouldn't lie.

[A]

That is true. Honest Bill, they call him.

[B]

Here's Bill Douglas. He's one of British cinema's most innovative auteurs. As well as making films, he and his friend Peter Jewell assembled a remarkable collection of over 50,000 items. This was gifted to the university to found the museum and forms the of our collection. Now. What university? Oh, University of Exeter.

[A]

Okay, going.

[B]

It's, you know, it's no miniatures, but let's see what's going on here.

[A]

What's. What would you say from. From what you can see, what is their. Kind of their holy grail?

[B]

Big piece, you know, posters. I'm seeing handbills, books.

[A]

Huh.

[B]

Toys.

[A]

I'll be honest, I'm a little underwhelmed.

[B]

I know. Let's move on. Sorry, Bill.

[A]

Look, I'm sure it's fine, Bill.

[B]

Okay. We have a rock climbing gym, a rack climbing gym. Rock.

[A]

Oh, right.

[B]

Okay. A rat.

[A]

Okay. Rock climbing. I'll tell you what I prefer, which is, I would say rock adjacent underground tunnels I'm seeing here.

[B]

Oh, now see, that's. Now we're getting somewhere.

[A]

That is a bit of me. I love an underground passage.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. But do you think. Now caving is very scary to me, like going into caves and tight spaces. That doesn't sound that fun. But underground tunnel.

[A]

Yeah. I wouldn't cave. Yeah. But these are. Do you know about Knotty Potty?

[B]

Oh, I do. It's the really dangerous one, Right?

[A]

Yeah. I downloaded a VR experience of horrifying.

[B]

That does not sound even close to what I'd want to do. This is cool, these underground passages, because these are medieval subterranean passageways. But they're like built out. They got bricks. It's like people are supposed to be down here.

[A]

Yeah. So these are actually built as caves dating from the 14th century.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

These medieval passages under Exeter High street are a unique Ancient monument.

[B]

This is very cool. And it's, you know, it's small, it'll get a little claustrophobic, but not, I

[A]

reckon at very most you've got a slight kind of hunch, haven't you?

[B]

Agree this is not like, oh God, there's no way out. These are meant for people to walk through.

[A]

Yes. I'm also seeing on the places to stay on this TripAdvisor travel lodge, Exeter M5, which is off the motorway.

[B]

Sounds good.

[A]

That is. I'm not saying the comedy club chain that I'm working for are cheap, but I am staying at the Travelodge Extra M5.

[B]

Sounds like there's a lot of numbers in that. More numbers than usual in a hotel. But that's good. Yeah.

[A]

I mean have a look, see what you see, what you make of it. I'd say it's good enough. I suppose. I'm used to travel lodges personally.

[B]

Travel Lodge. This is just like a little motel. Okay.

[A]

I see the M5 is a major motorway. So you've basically got an ensuite road. You know, not ideal, but I can live with it.

[B]

Absolutely. There's something to be said about the soothing sounds of a highway.

[A]

Yeah, sure.

[B]

Not as good as Hatch, but there's something to be said. No, I've already sort of run away to Great Torrington. I have to be honest.

[A]

Yeah, let's run to Great Torrington.

[B]

It's much smaller than Exeter, I'm noticing.

[A]

Right, okay.

[B]

Would you agree with this?

[A]

This could be a village. Is it a village?

[B]

There's really. I mean it's the nearest big thing. It's just. It's not giving a ton. Well, this is also what's interesting is I'm from New England and I do like that there's just a lot of one to ones of naming of towns because I lived right next to a Torrington.

[A]

No way.

[B]

And there's Hartford, which I think is a place in England or UK too.

[A]

I literally was in Hartford at the weekend. Yeah.

[B]

Hartford's our state capital. So I'm from Hartford and there's a lot in Connecticut. There's a lot of English town names where it's just people came over here and were like, we miss home. Let's just name it Torrington.

[A]

We should do an exchange.

[B]

Yeah. Hartford, sister cities. You guys would be really interested in our Hartford. There's not a ton to do there.

[A]

I'm from a place called Banbury and I'm pretty sure there is a Banbury or at least one over there that could make Sense.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And I think there's another place because Banbury Cross, which is like a famous nursery rhyme. I as a Banbury Cross donuts or something. Maybe.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Yeah. So Torrington, what do you reckon at first glance, which Torrington is the better? Torrington, Honestly?

[B]

Let me put them both side by side on these maps and see what's going on.

[A]

Give the lister an idea. We've got things to do. There's an alpaca. An alpaca. A church.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Two pubs.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Three pubs. Four pubs. Boom Ting Burgers.

[B]

There's an arts centre in Torrington, uk, the Plough Performing Arts Center. Is that where you're going?

[A]

I imagine that'll be probably where you're going. I guess that'll be where I'm going, yeah.

[B]

Okay. And in Torrington, Connecticut, we have an emergency expedited passport shop.

[A]

Useful.

[B]

You could get your passport. We do have a children's museum. We have a wildlife foundation. And I'm seeing a zebra.

[A]

So it's the alpaca versus zebra.

[B]

I know that's tough. A zebra. And there seems as if there's yaks also.

[A]

Love yaks. Yak is the funniest animal name I think, isn't it?

[B]

They're kind of funny looking too.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We do have. Oh yeah, Sunnybrook State Park. Okay. It is actually a quite a pretty park in Torrington.

[A]

I think that is beat it, hands down. Really?

[B]

I know they were kind of our rivals in soccer, so they also have a good soccer team.

[A]

Oh, really? Who was. Who would normally win out of those?

[B]

Any team I wasn't on was usually winning. I was a real detriment. I was a real detriment athletically.

[A]

It's. Now, we've spoken before about you. You getting pelted with lacrosse balls. Lacrosse balls, Yeah.

[B]

I was a little better at that. Soccer, not as much. Harmonton Pizza. Oh, there is good pizza in Connecticut, I'll say that. So I. I am going to give this one to Connecticut.

[A]

I think I'm gonna have to agree.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What I will say is great. Torrington, uk. It looks very picturesque.

[B]

It does, yeah. I would say views could be a little better over there because Torrington's a. It's a city. It's not. You're not doing that much.

[A]

Yeah, it was. This is like a sort of like a small town, big village and it's got a sea. Well, it's got sea views.

[B]

I can see all right. Could be neck and neck, but I think maybe Connecticut. So if you could just switch your performance over to Connecticut. I think you'll have a better time.

[A]

Yeah. For anyone listening, do not go to Great Torrington at the weekend.

[B]

It is regular Torrington.

[A]

Regular Torrington. Book your flights.

[B]

But for now, our vacations are laid. We're going to a bear free facilities in Tucson. We're going to Exeter. Exeter's got some. Got some good ideas. We're still thinking on Great Torrington in general, but you'll have a great time, I'm sure.

[A]

Yeah. Enjoy Tucson. That sounds amazing. You'll have a great time.

[B]

I will have a lot to say about the missile silo, I'm sure. So we'll stay tuned.

[A]

And of course, the miniatures. I'm very excited to hear about the miniatures. I know.

[B]

Before we turn in, I want to say a very special good night to those that keep us prepared. CA Girl 46, or whatever your username was. Thank you for letting me know that I need to buy earbuds and sandbags

[A]

when you buy your tokens.

[B]

When, of course, the tokens come in.

[A]

That's the crucial part.

[B]

Without you, I would be even more in the dark than before. I read your comment, which I'm still very much in the dark. But have a beautiful night, California Girl.

[A]

And I would just like to extend a very good night as well to Bill Douglas and his museum of posters. Keep doing what you're doing, Bill. And maybe if I'm at a really loose end, I will pop by.

[B]

Yes. Good night to both of you. And good night to you, Matt.

[A]

Good night, KP. Sa. Sa. Sam. To learn more about our phone free light and audio experience, head to Hatch co. You can also follow us at HatchPodcasts.