#13 Claire Belkadi (C'est La Vie)

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 Frequent Flyers Club listeners and sponsors. You are the tea to our biscuit. 

We recap our 'TFTDL Radio' campaign - our shared playlist on Spotify - along with your stories about the celebrities you've met in airports. We wonder which country is first in the world to experience Christmas Day, and what colour coat Santa wears in Russia?

Wishing you all peace and happiness - and some high-definition headphones to keep you listening in 2024. Safe winter travels everyone.

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

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 and the Nation Brands Index.  He joined the TFTDL crew to tell us why killing people is a bad thing, the sign that we've entered the Asian-century, and what yak soup really  tastes like.  

His TED talk has over 12 million views, he has been a policy advisor for over 60 governments around the world and he even created his own country. He also has a morbid fear of flying. It's time to abandon your prejudices and open your mind to what role each country plays in a globalised world. Can we be less selfish and just be good-er? 

Final boarding call: The Faroe Islands (again!) 

This episode is sponsored by AHZ Associates - trusted UK university representatives helping students from all over the world to enrol in British universities. Find out more at www.ahzassociates.co.uk

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

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 controlled Russia, bathing naked in Japan and sleeping with the King of Pop. 

From being the bad smell in the room to the champagne moment of selling your business and looking at your bank account, we dissect what really gives us purpose in life. A little bit of luck goes a long way, and for everything else you can pack a Leatherman.  

Final boarding call: Russia 

This episode is sponsored by AHZ Associates - trusted UK university representatives helping students from all over the world to enrol in British universities. Find out more at www.ahzassociates.co.uk

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

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 education been eroded by trade wars with China? And why can't you get diet Dr Pepper in other parts of the world? 

Karin is one of the trusted voices in our sector - but she is simply trying to tell the stories of inspirational students and shine a light on what is happening in the sector. Even if that results in jail-time for people. Another lovely Canadian living abroad, we talk about getting an MRSA, what it means to be 'screeched-in' and why you should never eat the purple cheesecake. 

Final boarding call: (Old) Hong Kong

Link to Latitudes: https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/latitudes

This episode is sponsored by AHZ Associates - trusted UK university representatives helping students from all over the world to enrol in British universities. Find out more at www.ahzassociates.co.uk

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

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 Dakota State University. 

Dressed as pilots (not Nazi officers or strippers) we talked to Jon about his time in Germany at the fall of the Berlin Wall, trips to the Emergency Room while overseas and what to do with all the weird and wonderful academic gifts you receive on the road. The sound is very poor and crackly but that's what you get with live broadcasting (I blame the tech guys)! 

Final boarding call: Berlin, Germany

The PIE Live North America will return in 2024! Check out www.thepielive.com for details including dates, speakers and sponsorship opportunities. 

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

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 share some honesty and a whole lot of love with her favourite podders.

We lurch from wardrobe malfunctions to Papa New Guinea via long distance friendships in a way only this podcast can. There's more quality dog-cast content and we rally against the loss of language learning in schools and fight for our right to take more carry-on luggage on planes. I predict a riot or a friend swap. 

Final boarding call: Ho Chi Minh City

This episode is sponsored by Duolingo. Today over 4500 institutions including Yale, Imperial and Trinity College Dublin have adopted the Duolingo English Test. If your university wants to join them then get in touch at www.englishtest.duolingo.com

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

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 controversial figure, a whistleblower, a conspiracy theorist - and for a long time he has been a solitary voice questioning the system in Canada. Not any more. A whole nation is now listening as the government announces tougher controls to protect overseas students.

Earl joins the TFTDL flight crew to talk about his passion for dogs, chess and boxing. He is less enthusiastic about aggregators, Indian whiskey and cease and desist letters.

It's time to take the red pill if you want to face an uncomfortable reality. Take the blue pill (and stop listening now) if you want to live in blissful ignorance. Pack light and land well. 

Final boarding call: Manila, Philippines

Essential reading: The Walrus - The Shadowy Business of International Education
Essential viewing: CBC News - The Fifth Estate: Sold a Lie

This episode is sponsored by Duolingo. Today over 4500 institutions including Yale, Imperial and Trinity College Dublin have adopted the Duolingo English Test. If your university wants to join them then get in touch at www.englishtest.duolingo.com

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

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 transformational experience as a backpacker to being CEO of a company whose mission it is to create a fairer world for everyone - via teaching English overseas and forgetting, well, nearly everything.

We cover a lot of ground:

- What makes Liverpool so....Liverpool?
- Are the younger generation more responsible?
- Who actually goes running on a business trip?

Final boarding call: Thailand

If you want to find out about Lead5050 as mentioned in the episode visit: https://www.lead5050.com/

This episode is sponsored by Duolingo. Today over 4500 institutions including Yale, Imperial and Trinity College Dublin have adopted the Duolingo English Test. If your university wants to join them then get in touch at www.englishtest.duolingo.com

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

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 turbulence to the Bermuda triangle, in an extremely honest interview about the aviation industry. 

Where do the crew disappear to half way through a flight? What do you do in the event of terrorism or a medical emergency? What does a 'heavy' pilot do? Assume the brace position and put yourself in Tony's capable hands... just don't critique his landing. 

Final boarding call: Amritsar, India

This episode is sponsored by Duolingo. Today over 4500 institutions including Yale, Imperial and Trinity College Dublin have adopted the Duolingo English Test. If your university wants to join them then get in touch at www.englishtest.duolingo.com

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

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!

Link: https://spotify.link/R7MNuCESvDb

Today over 4500 institutions including Yale, Imperial and Trinity College Dublin have adopted the Duolingo English Test. If your university wants to join them then get in touch at www.englishtest.duolingo.com

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