Tales from the Departure Lounge

#15 Amy Rutherford (The Spy Who Loved New Zealand)

• Andy Plant & Nick Cuthbert • Season 1 • Episode 15

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Come fly with me, my dad... and a plane full of hobbits. In this episode Amy Rutherford recounts her extraordinary upbringing on the South Island of her native New Zealand where her parents ran the sightseeing airline, Glenorchy Air. From bungee jumping to penguin jumping, this is a love letter to Kiwi culture. 

Now working as a diplomat in the US, she is the ultimate ambassador for Education New Zealand and possibly the clumsiest spy. Travel hacks include household items that explode on planes and what it is like to have diplomatic immunity (you can't murder anyone if that's what you are thinking).  

'Turangawaewae' is the Maori phrase to describe the place where one has the right to stand, and for Amy, there's no place like home. 

Final boarding call: Queenstown, New Zealand

This episode is sponsored by Loncom Consulting! Helping agents, language schools and institutions integrate and configure their CRM systems like HubSpot and Salesforce - check out www.loncomconsulting.com/education 

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

Andy:

I heard this was his last rock tour and then he is gonna concentrate more on jazz

Nick:

Welcome to Tales from the Departure Lounge. This is a podcast about travel for business, for pleasure, or for study. My name's Nick and I'm joined by my co-pilot, Andy. And together we're gonna be talking to some amazing guests about how travel has transformed their. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey. Welcome to the podcast.

Andy:

Today we were joined by Amy Rutherford. She's the regional director. America is the Middle East, and Europe at Education New Zealand.

Nick:

We got Amy on the show because her parents ran their own airline

Andy:

They did sight sing tours around Milford Sound and other parts of the beautiful, South Islands, including taking members of Lord of the Rings cast around.

Nick:

It's not bad. When your dad turns up as a pilot with a plane full of hobbits.

Andy:

She's got some great stories. She tells us about hurdling penguins. She tells us about exploding deodorant and pens.

Nick:

And what not to flush down the airline toilet. Uh, It's all just a cover story because we think she might be a spy.

Andy:

Very good. We found out every New Zealander seems to get a free bungee jump when they graduate high school. Uh, so you're not gonna be phased by anything after that. She's the New Zealand diplomat who is reenacting flight of the Concords in real life, promoting New Zealand in America. She's funny and Flappable and is definitely not Australian. Let's get some tales in the departure lounge from Amy Rutherford.

Amy:

One of the things that if you want to rile a New Zealander it is that you call them an Australian My father had trained as a pilot, he just loved to fly and so they decided just to do it. you just stand at the edge of the ledge and hope for the best. He thought, I'm jumping a penguin.

Nick:

Before we get into this episode, I wanna introduce you to a new sponsor to the podcast and a company that I am very excited about and that is Lancom for Education. We live in this digital economy, and I meet leaders every day from agents, academic institutions, and language schools who are struggling to manage all of their digital systems and data reports. They've invested in HubSpot or Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, or Zendesk, but they're only using a fraction of their potential. Long com are a team of logical, technically minded people who bridge those gaps. They actually slot straight into your team, and they do everything from cleaning up the data to CRM integrations while managing accommodation or home state bookings through channel management systems. But the real magic is when they help leaders produce better management reports and forecasting. This is the life blur of good strategy of investment plans and winning hearts and minds of new partners. We all collect data, but what are we really doing with it? And I'm telling you now that all you need is lancom to get ahead. They're here to solve your problems, unlock the full potential in your data, and grow through digital systems. So go to lancom consulting.com/education and select a time you want to chat. It's as easy as that. Now let's get on with the episode.

Andy:

Amy, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for coming along.

Amy:

It's nice to be here.

Andy:

Our first question is final boarding call, and that's where you can take our listeners anywhere in the world. Where would that be and why?

Amy:

I know that you're probably supposed to talk about somewhere where you're not from, but I'm gonna talk about where I'm from. Queenstown Tahu, that's the Mai name for, Queenstown where I grew up,, I am a little bit biased, but it is the most beautiful place on the planet. And every time I go back there, I always think to myself, why don't you live here? What kind of maniac doesn't live in the most beautiful place in the world where there's amazing wine and food and the sky is beautiful. And at night, you can see by the light of the stars, there's a Maori, concept which basically means, a place where you stand. I'm a woman. I'm a woman of European descent, so this is my interpretation of it. It's where you, where you place yourself in the world where you stand. And I think Queenstown Tahu is my That's where I. And from, that's where I identify with. when I think about home, that's where it is. It's also, where they invented bungee jumping, and when you graduate high school there, they give you a free bungee jump so you can go and throw yourself off a bridge somewhere. It was a mixture of like adventure tourism and just glorious beauty.

Andy:

And what was it like growing up there?

Amy:

when my parents first arrived there, and I think it was 1987, there was only about two or 3000 people that lived there. So it was very, very small. Now it's the, the fastest growing area in New Zealand. And so I think there's about 30, 35,000 people who live there. It's gone from this tiny town to quite a big place. but growing up there, it was far away from everything cuz it's in the middle of the south island. So to get to the largest nearest town Dunedin, it's a three and a half hour drive. So it did feel a little bit isolated. you had to learn to drive at 15 because there wasn't a bus service, but if you love the outdoors, through school they always used to make us raft down rivers in the middle of winter or go kayaking or climb up mountains, all that kind of stuff.

Andy:

Wholesome.

Amy:

Wholesome. Wow. I mean, I suppose any like 17 year old, Uh, it's not so awesome, but, um, it's a, it is amazing place. I do love it so much. I was just back there in January, February, and the house that I grew up in, there's a deck out the front of it, with a spa on it. And I sit there and look down the lake and wonder why I don't live there instead live in DC

Nick:

Do you think you'll ever move back?

Amy:

I hope so. At some point. I mean, it's, it is home, it's an amazing international place too, because. there's so many people from all over the world that live there and work there and also visit there.

Andy:

So if our listeners arrive in Queenstown, they've got 48 hours, what should be on their itinerary?

Amy:

One of the things I would suggest is go on the TSS earns law. So it's a steamship that was built in 1912, the same year as the Titanic, the engine room is open, so you can see the stokers who are literally, firing the coal into the big giant, coal fired steam engine. The other thing I would suggest is to fly to Milford Sam. So my parents, when I was growing up, they ran a flight scene business and my dad was a pilot, so they'd fly people around the lower South island. So that business, which was sold a couple of years ago, it was still running. It's called Glen Air. So I'm just putting that out too. So go flying around with them as well so you can see it from the air. It's amazing.

Andy:

Milford sound is mind blowing, isn't it? It's a sort of Norwegian fjord equivalent in New Zealand with its own identity.

Amy:

My. Dad. he used to fly in there all, all the time. And he said, people would ask all kinds of questions of him, including once, a woman asked him when they turned the waterfalls off, um,, she thought it was like a theme park, so you get all types.

Nick:

I think if we surveyed our listeners, New Zealand would come out as one of the most desirable places to live. Is nature enough for you or would you miss some of the action of other places?

Amy:

I mean, there's 5 million people in New Zealand. it is a small advanced economy, everything for the most part does work. You know what I mean? you can get stuff done. when they do all these surveys, it's the easiest place in the world to do business. it's one of the most peaceful countries in the world, one of the least corrupt. New Zealand is one of the most diverse countries in the world. I think 25% of New Zealanders were born outside of New Zealand. Lots of people have,, chosen to move to New Zealand to live there. And Auckland is one of the most diverse cities in the world. It's about one in three Aucklands. Were born outside of, New Zealand. It's also the largest Polynesian city in the world. So there it is a place of culture and, vibrancy,

Andy:

I went to New Zealand as a backpacker, like lots of, like lots of people. And I'd first been in Australia and then I flew over to New Zealand and the contrast was stuck. So I was expecting a version of Australia, but actually the cultural difference, was immediate.

Amy:

One of the things that if you want to rile a New Zealander it is that you call them an Australian, but it's definitely that kind of like big sister, little sister kind of,, dynamic. I mean, don't wanna put words in Australian's mouths, but they don't really care about New Zealand. But I think New Zealand does care about Australia, um, in that big sister, little sister kind of way. I'm a New Zealand diplomat. we hear a lot, Australia and New Zealand as one word. why would we have something in New Zealand? We have it in Australia, or we send students to Australia, so why would we send them to New Zealand? So we spend a lot of time explaining that New Zealand is not Australia. It's quite far away.

Andy:

Hmm. Yeah, it's definitely not, I went on, um, you talked about adventure holidays, I went on a jetboat. have you done that?

Amy:

Yeah. Did you go on the shot of a jet, like the red one?

Andy:

It was red and terrifying. Yeah.

Amy:

They drive straight towards like the walls of canyons,

Andy:

Exactly. That my skull was inches away from the wall of this canyon at about a hundred miles an hour. And the guys in the back seemingly not even paying attention whilst they were driving.

Amy:

Yeah, it is lots of throwing yourself off things and, doing things at speed, and rafting, jet boating, mountain biking, skiing, paragliding, skydiving. But my dad, who was a pilot, he always used to say,, why would I have thrown myself out as a, out of a perfectly functional plane

Nick:

Yeah.

Andy:

have you done it,

Amy:

At some point I feel like I'm gonna do a skydive. I've bungee jumped a couple of times they've got a big swing. Like I think it's one of the biggest swings in the world. I've done that. And you fall like 70 meters straight down. That's cool.

Nick:

I'm projecting my own fears onto you. A bungee jump is literally my idea of hell. I would be frozen with Tara. So the idea that you get one as part of your graduation, I mean, who is the Kiwi equivalent of me who's terrified, who doesn't wanna jump

Amy:

Well, you don't, they don't make you do it. So it's not like you go as a class and watch everyone jump off the bridge. No, you, you can take up the opportunity.

Andy:

Talk us through your first bungee jump. Amy, what was it like?

Amy:

well, you just stand at the edge of the ledge and hope for the best. The giant rubber band strapped to your ankles and then they tell you to jump out, and then you fall and then you just bounce.

Nick:

I can't cope with this.

Andy:

I did a bunch of jump, thought it would be fine, walked up to it, got strapped in, and then the moment I jumped every cell in my body tried to pull me back onto the ledge and I completely shout myself and cried for my mother on the way down. Yeah.

Nick:

That is such a good description on it. It's like mortal fear, isn't it? Every cell in your body is telling you you're gonna die. It's not a nice

Andy:

feel them crawl. I could feel them trying to crawl back, they're literally like physically trying to pull me back.

Amy:

When you drive from Queenstown to Dunan you drive past the original Bungee Bridge site, so you can see people jumping off all the time.

Nick:

I feel like in the name of balanced journalism you should tell us a place that isn't so nice in New Zealand. You know, the ass end of New Zealand?

Amy:

I mean, oh, I mean, if you want me to lose, you know, lose my job, um, I mean, So I lived in Wellington for five years and I love Wellington. It's the coolest little capital in the world. That's what they call it. but it is the windiest city on the planet. And I don't just mean that sort of exaggeration, and when I lived in Wellington, I cut all my hair off because there's only so much time you can spend, with it blowing around. And there are videos on YouTube of what you can see. People walking across roads and it's so windy that their feet are blowing out from underneath them and they hit the, hit the ground. So, yeah.

Nick:

There you go.

Andy:

Is there anywhere else in New Zealand, outside of Queenstown and Milford sound that you would highly recommend?

Amy:

Dunedin, I would say. It is a university town, so it has the University of Otago there. That's where they have the world's only mainland colony of Al Petros.

Nick:

Oh.

Amy:

So you can go and see the al Petros there, the penguins and the seals and the dolphins. Actually, that reminds me of, but one, I was working for the University of Otago, in their international marketing and recruitment side of things. And I was talking to a student, who had been on exchange to Atago. And I said to him, what was your favorite thing you did when you're in Dunedin? He said he joined a soccer team and they used to go running along a beach in order to do, fitness kind of stuff. And one day he was running along the beach and he. went to jump over what he thought was like some driftwood or something lying on the beach. And then he realized that it was a penguin as he was jumping over it. And he thought, he thought, I'm jumping a penguin. that's a, that's a, you know, unique life experience. And then I was at, Columbia University, their study abroad fair a couple of weeks later I was telling the student the story about this other student who jumped over a penguin while running on, along the beach. And a year later I met her somehow. I can't remember exactly how, but she said, do you remember me? And I said, prob no. And she said, you talked to me at the Columbia University Study Abroad fair, and I chose to come to Otago for a year, because of what you said. And I was like, oh God, what did I say? And she said, it was about the story about this. Student jumping over a penguin and I was like, you never know what's gonna hit with people. Do you, quality education destination, oldest university in New Zealand, university town. No penguins

Andy:

hurdling.

Nick:

this is a real U S P, it's not a library or a climbing wall on campus. We're jumping penguins.

Amy:

well, I mean I think that let's, I just have to put some little disclaimer, like do not interfere with wildlife when you're in New Zealand. But he had accidentally jumped to penguin, wasn't a purposeful penguin jumping so,

Andy:

it's not an official sport.

Nick:

Amy, you've already mentioned it, your parents ran an airline. Tell us more about that.

Amy:

So in 1992, my parents decided to start an airline, so they bought a plane. My dad was a chief pilot, my mum, the c e o. they ran that, for 28 years, just had its 30th anniversary and was sold just before the New Zealand borders closed.

Andy:

Was it a hobby that turned into a business?

Amy:

My father had trained as a pilot, he just loved to fly and so they decided just to do it. You know, they made a success of it in an industry, which is incredibly difficult. Cuz aviation is an incredibly regulated environment. and safety is, paramount in everything that you do. It is weather dependent and it rains more in Milford sound than almost anywhere else in the planet. So, you can only fly, maybe 55% of the time.

Andy:

And do you think it inspired you to travel later on in life?

Amy:

Traveler's always been part of,, my life always, I'm pretty sure like my mum went flying with my dad while she was pregnant with me. I find it surprising when I hear people who have not hardly traveled before or flown, particularly when you come from, you know, islands

Andy:

Hmm.

Amy:

in the South Pacific you have to travel and New Zealand is a renowned, I think, for traveling all over the world.

Andy:

I read a third of all New Zealand passport holders are out of the country at any one time.

Amy:

that seems about Right. we're an intrepid people. they used to fly people down to Dunedin to go to see the wildlife, and you'd land on the side of the peninsula, on a grass airstrip that went uphill. And so when you flew with people, you would have to say, it's gonna look like we are flying into the side of the hill. You could see people getting more and more anxious as you're flying into the side of the peninsula. But dad, He used, what he would do was just turn around and smile and people sort of give the thumbs up and be like, isn't this great? And people were like, well, he's not afraid. He's perfectly calm, so it must be fine,

Andy:

Front ice front, please file it ice front.

Nick:

Yeah, keep your eyes on the road.

Amy:

Well that's exactly, so my, if you talk to my mother, my father's driving because he's used to looking out, you know, on, in the, on the road you are pre predominantly looking straight ahead, but when you're flying you need to keep an eye out around you. She was always like Robert,

Nick:

having your own airline it's like having your own private jets, isn't it? Every weekend must be the temptation to fly somewhere.

Amy:

We did do that, but also it is expensive to fly planes, so it's not like just jumping in the car and going somewhere.

Nick:

Lots of guests have talked to us about celebrities they've seen in airports give us a list of celebrities who came through your parents' airline.

Amy:

They worked on the Lord of the Rings films. So they flew cast crew costumes, around, when they were filming they flew Ian Mc Macallan, like the Law of the Rings. He actually went on a tour with them, and when I was at University Dad, once he came and picked me up in the plane from, Dunedin and then,, he was flying some of the Hobbits somewhere. So there was, um, oh, what's his name? Mary or Pippen, one of those two. I think Mary So I met some of these people before they were actually, you know, famous at all.

Andy:

I thought you were gonna say your dad came to pick you up dressed as an ark, you know, flying a plane or something.

Amy:

Somewhere randomly, I think Mum has a, a gigantic sword cause people used to like, posing with it when they were flying around the different sites of where the filming had been done.

Nick:

Yeah. this is a serious fandom, isn't it? People are obsessed with it

Amy:

I was actually studying as an exchange student at the University of Richmond in Virginia when the first film came out. And I went along to the movie theater to watch it. And, I was homesick. There's parts that are filmed very close to where I grew up, like literally just, um, the road a bit. And when I watched, the end of the first film and. It's part of that, I could smell it, I could smell the New Zealand bush, I felt homesick afterwards.

Nick:

That is testament, isn't it, to how well it was shot and how beautiful that scenery was.

Amy:

There is about three to 4,000 US students who study in New Zealand, each year. And even now, one of the reasons they wanna come to New Zealand is because of Lord of the Rings. And most of these students weren't born when these movies came out What a, what a touchstone that was for New Zealand

Andy:

So the next section of the podcast is called any laptops, liquids, or sharp objects, and it's where you get to share any of your travel hacks or things that you do when you are traveling.

Amy:

I've done an enormous amount of travel for work, like an enormous amount, like an enormous amount of travel. For work probably too much. I don't really have the hacks. I know exactly what I'm taking. I don't write lists, but I know what I'm taking. Like I think about it in advance,

Andy:

Is there anything you think you take that nobody else takes with them

Amy:

probably about 15 pairs of shoes perhaps. Um, I no longer use deodorant with the ball in it on aircraft and stuff. I've had too many explosions once I was on a plane between, New Zealand and Singapore where I took out my pen. To fill out the arrivals card and it was one of those pens that's got the little ball in an ink pen that's got a little ball in it. When I open it up, it just exploded all over, the seat and the, the screen and all over my blanket and all over the person next to me. So,

Nick:

nice.

Amy:

so I had to sit next to this poor man for nine hours. He was covered in ink

Andy:

you squid him?

Amy:

I did, and don't bring deodorant that is, got the ball in it either because that explodes once that exploded when I was on a lift hunter flight. Cause I had to get off the flight and then go straight to meetings or something. So I went to like, repairing myself before I got off the plane in the aircraft toilet. So putting on joda and opened up the bottle and it, the ball exploded out and it went down the toilet. I thought, oh, I'll just press the button and it'll go, you know, and it didn't, and it went right. Yeah. And then it made a very alarming sound. So I pressed it again for, for good measure. It made even a more an alarming sound. And that's the only time I've ever pressed the air, the flight attendant call button in a toilet. And then no one came.

Andy:

You're trashing airlines. are there any, airlines you're allowed to fly with? Now you're, vandalizing them one by one

Amy:

That's the thing about when you've done so much flying, there's all kinds of stuff that's happened to you that you're just like, what? But that toilet one, like you'd think, you know, when you press the flight attend core button and the toilet, you'd think that would be like, Hmm, what's going on down there?

Nick:

If you are a flight attendant and that button goes off that alarm, you don't wanna answer that call. It's never gonna be good, is it? And then probably somebody did come, but could hear the extreme vacuum noise, clo clogged by unknown object, which was a roll on deodorant, but they didn't know that, so they could just probably hear this like I,

Amy:

Yes, exactly. The sound that made, it was like,

Nick:

yeah.

Amy:

like, oh God. But I went and told one of the flight attendants what had happened. I said, you know, I was putting on jodah and, and went down the, the toilet and got stuck. And she said, oh, I'll be fine. I don't think it'll be, and I do wanna wonder how long, you know, people started going in there and the first person went in there was pressing, oh, I don't.

Andy:

You don't want to go in there.

Amy:

I've been vomited on a flight, I was wearing sandals and they vomited on my bare feet. Wouldn't suggest that when you have to try and clean yourself up in the airport in the, in the, um, aircraft toilet,

Nick:

Mm.

Andy:

In between your toes.

Nick:

My, my son has a, an air sickness thing going on at the moment, and we flew to the US last year, and yet just as we were coming into land, he, he was being sick and it's a enclosed space and then that nausea goes down the cabin. You can see other people like holding back, what's the film? Stand by Me, isn't it? Where, where I could see that possibly happening in front of my eyes,

Amy:

That's when I question you know, why am I doing this? if you're gonna be this sick, I, I don't wanna be on a plane being this sick. It was awful.

Andy:

The next section of the podcast is called What's the Purpose of Your Visit? So why do you do what you do, Amy?

Amy:

I work for Education New Zealand Manpo. The New Zealand government agency that is responsible for international education. I am a New Zealand diplomat and one of the reasons why I do what I do is because, um, I, I really New Zealand. I'm proud to be a New Zealander. It's a privileged position to be in, in terms of working for your country, we manage the bilateral education relationship, so that's the education department see side of things. So it's very interesting. Working to promote New Zealand education products and services in New Zealand as an education destination. Also work to internationalize New Zealand students experience. So in my region, for example, there's a Prime Minister scholarship for Latin America, which funds New Zealand students to go on either individual or group programs through to across Latin America. And then in New Zealand we also have a social license program. So telling the story of international education to New Zealanders and talking about the value of international education to New Zealand communities as well.

Andy:

And you talked about your love of New Zealand to become a diplomat. Do they test your love in any way? Do they, dig into your background, uh, and ask you lots of awkward questions?

Amy:

so I don't work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,, it'll be like the foreign office in the UK or the State Department.

Andy:

not a spy. Okay.

Amy:

Not

Andy:

Who are you? Who

Amy:

well am I?

Andy:

It's a great cover

Amy:

Exactly. But there's two things that people say to me when they find out that,, my job, one is do you have diplomatic immunity? Does that mean that you can murder someone? That's the first place people go. Almost always. And I'm like, why is that the first thing you think? Not like running red lights or getting out of parking tickets. No. People are like, so you could murder someone and get away with it. I'm like, no, I couldn't. and the other thing, what, what's the other thing? can't remember what the other thing is.

Andy:

Spying.

Amy:

Not spying. Well, they do. Yeah. It's actually, I mean, yes, people do ask me that.

Nick:

If you were speeding or something, could you get out some sort of diplomatic id and the police would just say, oh, okay, on your way.

Amy:

No. So you're told very clearly that you follow the rules and laws of the country that you're in, and they won't claim diplomatic immunity for you to get out of that kind of thing. you do drive cars that have diplomatic plates, but,, I follow the road rules

Andy:

Do you have a special, do you have a special passport?

Amy:

yep. Have a diplomatic passport. Yep.

Nick:

Oh

Andy:

Hmm. What does that

Nick:

yeah. What lane do you go in

Amy:

diplomatic lane.

Nick:

Oh.

Amy:

So I have to travel on my diplomatic passport while I'm outside of New Zealand on posting. I travel on a diplomatic passport even when I say go on holiday. But having a diplomatic passport means that sometimes you have to get visas for countries where you don't have to. If you have an ordinary passport like Brazil for example,

Andy:

but what are the perks of being a diplomat? Is there some sort of diplomatic lounge that we don't know about in airports?

Amy:

If you're traveling with, the Prime Minister or a minister, there is, facilitation. We, the officials still have to go through security and that kind of thing, but, the ministers, or Prime Minister don't. and they do, have v i p lounges for like ministers or, at Prime Minister, that kind of thing. But you can't access them as a normal official.

Andy:

Just a plebeian diplomat, not a, not an executive diplomat.

Amy:

I was traveling with our then Minister of Education, Chris Hips, he's now the prime Minister of New Zealand. We went, with him to Brazil and then to Chile. And so that was just before the New Zealand borders reopened because of Covid. And, Houston Airport had agreed that they would send someone to meet us at the gate, and then, take us through to the next gate, like a facilitation thing. But we had been late leaving Denver airport and so the gate had changed and there was no one to meet us. And we were gonna miss our next flight getting to, Sao Paolo, which would've thrown everything into disarray. There was seven of us, one of us flagged down one of the airport, like those little, like the beat, beat machines, you know, that everyone

Andy:

my buggies.

Amy:

the buggies, that's the word. And there wasn't enough room for me. there was our chief executive from Education New Zealand, my boss, the minister, the ministers, senior private secretary. and so there wasn't, I, I was the like, the lowest ranked person. So I was going to be the one that was

Nick:

Yeah.

Amy:

and I had to run five kilometers while they all got on the little buggy.

Nick:

They let you run alongside the buggy?

Amy:

No, they go in a different area. And then there's me running and we did manage to make the plane, but there's a picture of me like running through the airport.

Andy:

You didn't even have any role on deodorant at the end of that either.

Amy:

even have any role in deodorant, but I do always wear comfortable shoes that you can run in, you know?

Andy:

Yeah. Good for making your escape because you're a spy. The last section of the podcast is called Anything to Declare. What would you like to tell our listeners?

Amy:

Anything to declare? I would encourage people look me up in LinkedIn, add me if you work across the Americas, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, please do come and,, talk to me, or my team or someone at Education New Zealand, one po around, how to work with New Zealand., we are interested in developing and working with our universities and to perking the Institute of Skills of Technology in New Zealand. private training establishments, English language colleges across the entire education spectrum. We're definitely interested in developing partnerships and. Growing reciprocal education engagement between New Zealand and overseas as well.

Nick:

I was gonna say, you could declare New Zealand Open New Zealand was held up as the perfect response to Covid at the time. So few deaths a real positive societal response to the pandemic. I think it's fair to say, but then, the slowest particularly in education terms, reopen borders to students. How much of a challenge is it now trying to,, make it clear that New Zealand is open?

Amy:

you've hit the nail on the head there in terms of, the New Zealand borders were closed until basically the 1st of August, I think it was last year. So they were closed for two and a half years. and did open significantly later, and I was just in the Middle East with an education destination. And even now there is a perception perhaps that New Zealand isn't open. So yeah, telling that story that New Zealand is open, please do, send students back to New Zealand. New Zealand students are also traveling. New Zealand is definitely open for business.

Andy:

Amy are there any stories that you want to tell us about your travels?

Amy:

So I sit on my Instagram that I was going to be doing this and I said to people, were there any travel stories of mine that I've posted on social media over the years that you remember that I should talk about? And the consensus was one. And this was when I was in Wellington in 2021. And I was staying in a service department and I'd been to the gym or something, so I'd come back into the service apartment and I'd gone up in the lift to my floor and then the lift stopped on a floor that wasn't mine and the doors opened and there was no one there. So I just stuck my head out to see if someone was coming or something. And then there was a man standing there in the hallway. He was bent over and he was a friend of mine. He described it as he was, Winnie either poohing it, so he was wearing a T-shirt, only a T-shirt. And he was standing, he was standing there and he'd pulled his t-shirt shirt down over himself, shall we say. And he was standing there like sheepishly half naked. And he looked at me and he said, I just pressed the button because I have locked myself out of my room and I'm not wearing any underpants. And he said, I'm trying to get the attention of someone who can then call the reception to come and let me into my room. I called up the reception and I explained to the woman on the phone, there was a man on this floor who's locked himself out of his room and he's not wearing any underpants. Then she hung up on me. And so I called her,

Nick:

She thought you were a fantasist.

Amy:

Yeah, I think she thought I was some kind of weird prank call because I was laughing because it was funny. In the end, I think I called her two or three times, before she said, okay, I will send someone there. But I went up to my room and then I thought, I don't know that woman ever believed

Nick:

Hmm.

Amy:

I went down to the reception myself and grabbed someone and said, there's a man on the whatever floor who isn't wearing any underpants, who locked himself out of his room. I said to the receptionist, does this happen often? And he said all the time, people are always looking themselves out of their room naked. I'm like, don't you find that surprising?

Andy:

not before we started this podcast, but since we've started talking to people about traveling, the number of naked men knocking on people's doors it's quite high.

Nick:

Every episode.

Andy:

Yeah.

Amy:

I just find it.

Andy:

So many questions about the guy just wearing a t-shirt. You know why? Why wouldn't you take the T-shirt off and cover yourself up below the

Amy:

but maybe you could take the t-shirt off and wear it as shorts, put your legs through the arms, but then you'd maybe even look crazier. I don't know.

Andy:

Amy, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It's been great having you.

Amy:

it's been really great, to chat to you both. and I still refuse to say what's the worst place in New Zealand. No, no,

Andy:

It's all good.

Amy:

New Zealand, like other countries, but better.

Nick:

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for listening. As always, you can get in touch with us at Sick Bag at Tales from the departure lounge.com. Also, remember to check out a sponsor Lancom Consulting. They are already working with loads of agents and companies in the education sector. If you have a C RM system that you need configuring or you want to I integrating with something, if you wanna build an online store or you just want better predictive forecasting, Dashboards and analytics. Then check out Lancom Consulting. See you all soon. Tales from the Departure Lounge is a type nine production for the pie.

People on this episode

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Andy Plant

Host
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Nick Cuthbert

Host