Tales from the Departure Lounge

Frequent Flyers Club (Your Stories) May 2023

• Andy Plant & Nick Cuthbert • Season 1 • Episode 0

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Saph Williams, head of business development at Enroly joins us to review last month's episodes and our social media campaign where we asked our listeners where their final boarding call would be.  Thank you to everyone who responded, what a cultured bunch you are!

It turns out Saph has a few stories of her own involving turbulence, capsule hotels and sweet-savoury food combinations. We also hear from Brendan McGerty (Griffith College Dublin) and get an update on Nick's travel plans for Japan. 

You can send in your travel stories to sickbag@talesfromthedeparturelounge.com

This episode is sponsored by Enroly! CAS Shield automates the CAS, visa and arrival process for universities, agents and international students. In the last academic year the  platform managed the arrival and onboarding of 1-in-4 international students coming to the UK. Find out more at www.enroly.com

Tales from the Departure Lounge is a Type Nine production for The PIE www.thepienews.com

Wow. Sign up to my funky Frequent Flyers Club. Sign up to my funky Frequent Flyers Club. Wow.

Andy:

Welcome to Frequent Flyers Club. This is our monthly recap. Keep, this is our monthly recap of what's going on with our listener community We're really happy to be joined by saf Williams from Enrollee. She's the head of business development there.

Saph:

Thank you very much for having me. This is nice. This is like having a chat on company time, isn't it?

Andy:

A massive thanks to Enrollee for supporting us.

Saph:

It's been brilliant listening and I've now got a very long list of places that I want to go so thanks for that.

Andy:

well one of the posts that we put on LinkedIn, was. Asking people where their favorite place in the world was, that they've been, and then asking them a wishlist, perhaps you have somewhere that you wish you could go.

Saph:

I feel like I'm jumping on the bandwagon here One in two people were saying Japan and that is my next go-to destination, it's feeding quite a bad Instagram habit I dunno if anyone else is doing the same.

Andy:

Our listeners can't see this, but Nick is, is actually trembling with anticipation because he's just about to go to Japan. He's like a little child.

Nick:

I literally just booked my room at the Robot Hotel and I've been googling the weirdest things to do in Japan, and the lists are endless.

Saph:

What is the weirdest thing that you're gonna do in Japan?

Nick:

Things that would be unusual, like sumo wrestling, the bullet train even, uh, the culture around. Cosplay and themed things, that seems to be everywhere, themed cafes, themed hotels,

Andy:

I can't wait to see your holiday photos, have you? Doing sumo wrestling, dressed as a schoolgirl on a bullet train.

Saph:

There's probably a niche for that somewhere,

Andy:

absolutely, it's probably a subculture. Yeah.

Nick:

I'm contemplating staying in a capsule, instead of the robot hotel or Godzilla Hotel. Not sure

Saph:

I did stay in a capsule hotel in Singapore. Quite a long time ago, it wasn't that pleasant an experience, so I'm, I probably won't share too much more, but maybe just stay for a night and see how I get on.

Andy:

You might be a little too tall, Nick.

Nick:

If people haven't seen this, they're kind of like C cough in size spaces stacked on top of each other with numbers, and you just, you just slide right in. So what happens? You then seal yourself in this.

Saph:

Yeah, essentially. And if you can't seal yourself in or seal other people out, that's where the problems start. So,

Andy:

This sounds like a story, Seth?

Saph:

It's, no, it's, it's not as bad as that. It's, um, snoring and smells. Let's just leave it like that.

Nick:

I did wonder how soundproof they are

Saph:

this one wasn't, I'm sure in Japan they'll be far more efficient at, you know, ensuring a better sleep than I had that night.

Nick:

I'm striking Capsule Hotel off the list.

Wow.

Andy:

So, traditionally Seth, we ask our guests to give us their tales from the departure lounge. I wondered if you had any stories from your travels.

Saph:

listening to some of the other stories from previous episodes, automatically you start thinking about your own and one of them was on. Sort of the bad travel experiences and, one experience popped into my head. I've on a flight to Budapest and my now husband was looking out the window and he's a bit of a plane fanatic, not my interest. He, he loves planes and he said, wow, you look like we're really close to the slip, stream of,, whatever planes just gone past. I ignored him, carried on with my reading or whatever I was doing at that time. About 30 seconds later, you feel like a B bump. You know, just like a big bump. like if you're going over a speed bump, I guess on a plane not even 10 seconds later, the plane literally flipped. What must have been, 90 degrees. It was a huge flip, and honestly there was just chaos. It righted itself immediately, and essentially what had happened is, the pilot came on and told us afterwards that, sorry, passengers for that mild turbulence, we've just gone through the slip stream of an A three 80. So we had quite literally been in the wrong flight path and, The woman next to me was holding my hand. She was in tears. Lewis was the other side of me laughing his head off. So I think one, you kind of see how people react to fear and ne near death experiences. Some people find it hilarious. Others not so much. Poor Bruno. The flight attendant was on the floor hanging on to. The trolley, and it's given me anxiety even just thinking about it

Andy:

gonna say, did you sort of ring the bell for Bruno straight afterwards in order a double gin And tonic?

Saph:

it's funny how we remember that his name was Bruno.

Nick:

Did Bruno, keep it together though? Was he cool under pressure

Saph:

I mean, he was as cool as you can be when you're on the floor, Whoever was standing up, Bruno being one of them, was not standing up after it happened., there were people on the floor that had been in the aisle. So, yeah, it was, it was quite scary.

Andy:

You a good fly Nick.

Nick:

let's just put it this way. I don't like heights or fairground rides, but I don't actually mind. Find, flying because you're so detached. It's like traveling without moving, isn't it? But nobody likes turbulence. I mean, your husband, this is specific type of person, isn't it? That's laughing at the thrill of major turbulence.

Saph:

Yeah. I dunno whether that's just a really bad coping mechanism that he's sort of found. Um, yeah,

Nick:

andy, are you a good flyer?

Andy:

it doesn't bother me at all. I'm, very zen that I'm completely out of control anyway. I was in the posh sheets once and it was one of the carriers, were you faced backwards and forwards, and I was facing backwards. And that bothered me when you're in the air, it doesn't matter. But when you're taking off and landing, it's really noticeable. But then some, so my subconscious it just got to me and, I couldn't rest knowing that I was facing backwards, no matter how much champagne I drank.

Nick:

I didn't know that was a thing.

Saph:

Just being on that train to London, going backwards doesn't quite compare to being in the posh seats on an airplane.

Nick:

It's if you've got a hangover and you're on a backwards facing seat, on the East Midlands railway that is a cna.

Wow.

Andy:

Any other stories, Seth?

Saph:

another one that popped into my head for a completely different reason. I think it was, Shivani Her story about walking around the place in Switzerland about how small, it was. And that struck up a memory of when I went to China, literally had the opposite feeling. I was walking around one of the universities in Chong Ching and I've got a video on my phone where I was just literally struck with. Awe the number of students that are there is something between 30 and 50,000 students in most of the universities around that area. And they were sort of all walking to lunch in that particular moment. And it was just a sea of students walking down the road. Probably like 20,000 students just moved from one part of the campus to the other. it was incredible. It was like watching a marathon, but. On a university campus and I think that same campus actually was where I found, a soulmate, A student that was sitting quite far away, happily in his lunch, and he was eating a piece of chicken, so he had a chicken leg, but he had an ice cream in the other hand, and that is what I love about the Chinese so much, there's no such thing as main and dessert. You just kind of eat it at the same time. I'm that person that dips their chips in a McDonald's milkshake and I feel like he was doing the same thing.

Andy:

Chicken and ice cream. I've been in many hotels in China and witnessed the breakfast combinations that go on. A fried egg on a donut.

Nick:

When the university did agent visits, and we would do very British catering for Chinese agents and you'd watch some of these combinations, but I always struggled with the Mild dinner lady, xenophobia. I shouldn't say dinner lady. I should dinner Person who just couldn't bring themselves to put these combinations together for people. And you'd say, it's okay. They can have what they want.

Andy:

Chong Ching is a crazy city though, isn't it? It's got a train that goes through buildings. It's a, a three-dimensional city where you can go into a building, go up 20 floors, and come out on the ground floor because it's just further up the hill and there's like a road going around a skyscraper. it bends your brain.

Wow.

Andy:

Right. Should we see what's in the sick bag?

Nick:

Let's do it.

Andy:

I got a message from Brendan McGirk. He's the marketing manager for Central and South America at Griffith College in Dublin, and he got in touch to say, It seems he always has issues when he visits Bolivia. Uh, and his first time coincided with a military coup. And the last time, he was gifted with a tub of powdered coconut milk from a student, which the army inspector at the airport took a big interest in. And basically all the other passengers, were looking in and forming this crowd around him. And they genuinely thought he was a drug mule.

Nick:

it's banged up abroad all over again. Did you pack these bags yourself?

Andy:

I've been out of Columbia a couple of times and had everything opened and sniffed, and I did have some, protein powder, with me, which didn't look too good. I feel you, Brendan

Nick:

Everything got sniffed.

Andy:

got sniffed.

Saph:

I'm really childish as well, so I couldn't help myself on that

Nick:

I could see Seth laughing. Saf, ever been mistaken for a drugs meal?

Saph:

In Barcelona Airport, I was also feeling a bit delicate after going to a festival and I had you know, hand swabbed, feet swabbed, and then they changed my seat number and, you got that sort of like tired. Paranoia thinking, what's going on? Am I being, I'm being set up. I'm being set up maybe as a drugs meal.

Wow.

Nick:

Let's talk about some of these suggestions on the, final boarding call.

Andy:

we did a post with enrollee. Asking everybody what their final boarding call would be and lots and lots of people replied. It was great. Thank you so much. Carl Campbell, legend of Content Marketing. he says it's tough one, but probably Lake Tahoe. He'll never forget driving over a mountain to get to it. And then he also joined the Japan Band Wagon. He wanted to go there because he is mad about Nintendo.

Nick:

and I recalled that my brother went on a camper experience when he was a teenager and drifted out in Lake Tahoe and had to be towed back in on his rubber, dingy by the water police,

Andy:

Hmm.

Nick:

uh, there's one here from Wendy Yip, who is the director of International Development at Aston. And she said ard and seeing the polar bears and the narwals, was her favorite place to have been. And she hoped to have more ice and snow with Antarctica.

Andy:

Claire from The Pie, she wanted more than one. So she's put Japan New Zealand, gala, Apaka, but really the whole of South America. I don't think you can do that. And then, and then she said where she wants to go, India, Vietnam, and Vancouver.

Nick:

That's just greedy.

Saph:

this one's from Rachel Kimber from Caplan, and. She says, I'd be joining Chris Davis on his round the World Ticket, but without the kids. Um, Saudi, seriously love it. Having spent a week in Silver Stream in the desert while working, in the Alola, I'd like to go back as a tourist with more time, ideally during the Hot Air Balloon Festival, magical Mexico. Fingers crossed. My best friend lives there and I miss her more than I can see,

Andy:

good choices.

Saph:

I think I butchered the pronunciation, of that though.

Andy:

Saudi Arabia. No, you said it. You said it fine.

Saph:

I've not been to Saudi. My dad's Iranian, so there's probably some preconceptions that he might have fed into, us as children, but that's another place that I think a lot of people have got misconceptions about Iran. And, I've only got very good memories from being a kid and, and going there.

Nick:

Let's go through some more. Emily Page said Cambodia was the best place she's ever been to, and she wants to go to Mongolia. Robert Engel said Bhutan., that's his number one destination. Paul Teasdale from enroll. He said his favorite place was Chile. He wants to go to the Galapagos, like Chris Avis went to the Galapagos on his family round, the world trip.

Andy:

So jealous.

Saph:

That trip sounded incredible.

Andy:

Someone told me the other day that there are, tens of thousands of people living on the Galapagos.

Nick:

What? I thought no. People lived on the Galapagos.

Andy:

Yeah, maybe. Maybe it's not true. I haven't looked into it,

Nick:

Tell us at Sick Bag at Tales from the departure lounge.com.

Andy:

or we could just give Chris a call.

Nick:

Oh yeah.

Wow.

Nick:

How should we finish this?

Andy:

I'm gonna do a mini, anything for you to declare here, Seth? As a thank you for sponsoring us, please tell us a little bit about Enrollee.

Saph:

I think what I'd love to just get across is that, Enroll is absolutely transforming that admission space for universities. So having come from a university and seeing the impact of this on teams, reducing stress, giving people back their work-life balance, I think that for me is what has been so transformational, is so good to be part of that team now that is bringing that to more universities and students and agents. so yeah, if anyone's interested in transforming their. admission space, and, enhancing that onboarding process for their students. Then please get in touch and Ro would love to hear from you.

Andy:

Awesome. Thank you very much and thank you ever so much for coming onto Frequent Flyers Club. If any of you would like to share your stories with us, please send an email to Sick Bag Tales and depart lounge.com. You can also record a voice memo and send it in and we'll play it back.

Nick:

See you next month.

Andy:

Bye. See you on the road.

Saph:

Hi.

Wow. Sign up to my funky Frequent Flyers Club. Sign up to my funky Frequent Flyers Club. Wow.

Nick:

Tales from the Departure Lounge is a type nine production for the pie.

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Andy Plant

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Nick Cuthbert

Host