Tales from the Departure Lounge
Tickets? Check. Passport? Check. Imodium? Check. Sit back, relax and enjoy the journey as Andy and Nick try to fly this plane. They'll be chatting to special guests about travel hacks, destinations of choice and the transformative power of working or studying overseas. Travel is back and there is always time to kill in an airport. You could spend it in a Burger King or you could listen to some inspirational tales from life's frequent flyers. Final call for this lo-fi, high-flying podcast odyssey.
Send your own stories, suggestions or jingle requests to sickbag@talesfromthedeparturelounge.com
Tales from the Departure Lounge is a Type Nine production for The PIE www.thepienews.com
Episodes
55 episodes
#44 Lesinda Leightley (Buy A Donkey)
Buy-a-donkey or more accurately "Baie Dankie" is the Afrikaans for thank you - a gratitude we owe the lovely Lesinda Leightly (PSI) for the sensory overload that is this episode. She takes the TFTDL flight crew on a road trip along the Garden R...
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Season 3
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37:30
#43 Nik Higgins (My Feet Wander Free)
Recorded on Australia Day, Nik Higgin's (The Ambassador Platform) beams us in to Sydney, a harbour view and the smell of eucalyptus. Drink it in... and then blackout at a 7-Eleven. A loveable character with his own unique style, Nik's life view...
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Season 3
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Episode 43
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34:23
#42 James Rice (Put The Cookie Down)
At the age of 48, James Rice (IBT College) weighed 300 pounds (135kg/21.5 stone) was pre-diabetic, with high blood pressure and arthritis and could barely fit into XXXL shirts. Then one day a former student who he had supported to study in Cana...
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Season 3
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Episode 42
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35:38
Frequent Flyers Club (Your Stories) May 2024
In this short interlude episode we get to know Nat Cole, director of operations at The Ambassador Platform who have been sponsoring the podcast. We discuss the incredible student stories that have featured in recent episodes and Nat's own adven...
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Season 3
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11:15
#41 Jeff Williams (Why Take The Risk?)
Life is full of risks - including starting your own business, having a picnic in the Maasai Mara or saying way too much on a podcast. In this episode we take listeners on an audio safari with Jeff Williams (CEO and founder of Enroly). He ...
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Season 3
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Episode 41
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37:37
#40 Ula Tang-Plowman (不入虎穴,焉得虎子)
Nothing ventured, nothing gained for our tiger queen, Ula Tang-Plowman (University of Central Lancashire). Forged in the steel city of Wuhan, she came to the UK as a student with a pocket full of cash and a taste for the hottest chillies on ear...
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Season 3
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Episode 40
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39:33
#39 Adam-Lucas Pettit (Tag You're It)
Is there a party at mother's? You bet there is. Life is just one big playground for Adam Pettit (AECC Global) who joins the TFTDL crew to discuss being a player in a global game of ‘tag’. After reading about a group of players in the New Yo...
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Season 3
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Episode 39
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35:59
#38 Tales from the Departure Lounge LIVE with Mark Pettitt
London calling! Andy and Nick took to the stage at The PIE Live Europe '24 to record a live episode with Mark Pettitt, founder of Edified. Mark takes us on a magical mystery tour of his life adventures starting in 1970's New Zealand via Russia,...
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Season 3
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Episode 38
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29:42
#37 Anvee Bhutani (The Oxford Exposé)
The University of Oxford is consistently ranked as the best university in the world, yet it is often accused of elitism and archaic traditions. The TFTDL crew speak to international graduate Anvee Bhutani, a journalist at The Telegraph...
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Season 3
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Episode 37
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39:03
#36 Devarshi Desai (Keep It Real)
Dev Desai is part of the 'studytuber' phenomenon of student influencers. He generated millions of views on social media by documented his study abroad experience in Australia and answering questions from other students online. Fast-forward five...
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Season 3
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Episode 36
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36:56
#35 Nhial Deng (A Refugee Story)
A story of hope. At age 11 Nhial was separated from his family when armed militia attacked his village in Ethiopia that borders South Sudan. He fled to Kukama Refugee Camp in Kenya, a settlement over over 300,000 displaced people, where he foun...
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Season 3
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Episode 35
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26:12
#34 Wali & Wahab Yasini (The Great Escape)
Wali and Wahab are two brothers studying in the UK having escaped Afghanistan after their mother was brutally murdered by the Taliban. Targeted because she was one of the first female judges in the country who had been trained by the Internatio...
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Season 3
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Episode 34
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34:24
#33 Lane Murdock (Walk With Me)
Gun violence is the number one killer of children and teens in the US. After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida, where a gunman killed 14 children and 3 teachers, Lane Murdock decided to take a stand. At just 15 years ...
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Season 3
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Episode 33
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35:44
Frequent Flyers Club (Christmas Special) December 2023
Ho-Ho-Ho! Seasons greetings from the TFTDL flight crew. Andy and Nick are joined by Masha Kostromitina from the Duolingo English Test team to celebrate the podcast reaching 10,000 downloads in just 10 months. A huge thank you to all our Frequen...
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Season 2
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16:03
#32 Simon Anholt (Good Country, Selfish Country)
Simon Anholt is the world's leading authority on 'nation brands' having coined the term in the 1990s. He is the founder of a number of global surveys that track the perception of countries and cities, including the Good Country Index a...
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Season 2
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Episode 32
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35:26
#31 Nick Golding (I Slept with Michael Jackson)
He has the charisma to be a lead singer in a band but instead he became a rockstar entrepreneur as one of the founding partners of CATS colleges and Cambridge Education Group. Nick Golding takes us on a walk on the wild side including mafia con...
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Season 2
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Episode 31
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33:53
#30 Karin Fischer (The American Dream)
In this episode, award-winning reporter Karin Fischer from the Chronicle of Higher Education joins the TFTDL crew to discuss the BIG questions in geo-politics. Is the American dream still alive? Has the work of international e...
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Season 2
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Episode 30
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33:19
#29 Tales from the Departure Lounge LIVE with Jon Stauff
The British are coming! Andy and Nick touched down in the beautiful city of Boston, USA to record an episode on stage at The PIE Live North America conference '23 with Jon Stauff, assistant vice president for international affairs at South Dako...
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Season 2
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Episode 29
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29:05
TFTDL Radio - No Status Blues
We've teamed up with the lovely people at Duolingo to create the perfect travel mix-tape playlist on Spotify! Inspired by the guests, stories and destinations from the Tales from the Departure Lounge podcast. Listen to TFTDL Radio now!L...
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1:02
#28 Marnie Watson (Just Add Water)
Are you chopping onions or have you just brought a tear gas canister into your 15th floor apartment? Aussie country-kid, Marnie Watson (Acumen / Sannam S4 Group) chooses to disregard her own wedding anniversary to join the TFTDL flight crew and...
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Season 2
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Episode 28
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34:00
#27 Earl Blaney (Who Let The Dogs Out?)
The exploitation of international students for financial gain is an open secret in some parts of the world, and while many choose to look away, Earl Blaney has been calling out the darker side of the edu-immigration industry. He's a controversi...
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Season 2
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Episode 27
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31:15
#26 Leanne Linacre (A Brave New World)
Do you want to change the world? Or at least leave it a little bit better than how you found it? Well then you need to get your hands dirty. Leanne Linacre (LILA* Liverpool, Lead5050) shares her epic journey with us, from a transformati...
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Season 2
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Episode 26
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36:23
#25 Tony Eyles (This Is Your Captain Speaking)
This is the REAL life pilot episode! Tony Eyles is a first officer flying for British Airways. He joins the TFTDL flight crew to answer all your questions about planes, pilots and passengers. We take to the skies to talk about everything from t...
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Season 2
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Episode 25
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39:11
TFTDL Radio - (Everybody's Free) To Listen To Tales From The Departure Lounge
We've teamed up with the lovely people at Duolingo to create the perfect travel mix-tape playlist on Spotify! Inspired by the guests, stories and destinations from the Tales from the Departure Lounge podcast. Listen to TFTDL Radio now!L...
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5:18
#24 Vanessa Varvas (Pura Vida)
Remember the 'Lonely Planet' days before the internet? All you needed was cash, a map and some resilience. Vanessa Varvas (UEL) tells the TFTDL flight crew how travel has made her a better person and a better leader. She takes us on a ...
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Season 2
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Episode 24
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34:39