Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to Journeybound. Stories from overseas travel representatives dive into the heart of travel.
Immerse yourself in vibrant cultures and experience the world from an entirely new perspective. Each week, we bring you riveting stories, unscripted moments, and the incredible highs and lows from the lives of those who represent us abroad.
These are the tales of adventure, lessons learned, and the transformative power of travel. Guiding us on this voyage are seasoned travellers, a man and a woman, with stories from every corner of the globe. Wesley Baker and Miranda Kilstrom.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Hello and welcome back.
[00:01:03] Speaker C: This is Wesley speaking, and I've got with me the lovely Miranda. And today we're going to be talking about crossing borders and breaking barriers. And I'm going to start with just setting you on your way with that one, because you already started about straight away, pre the recording, going on about things.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: I mean, really what we want to.
[00:01:22] Speaker C: Be talking about is languages, lifestyle, everything that's different and someone that's looking to become a rep. That's what this is about. This series really is not only talking about the life as us, as reps, but also helping those that perhaps are considering coming and for those that used.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: To do it for the enjoyment of.
[00:01:39] Speaker C: Listening to our old towers and perhaps bringing back some lovely memories.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: But anyway, if we go on, just give us one of your stories.
[00:01:47] Speaker D: One of my stories? Blimey, Wesley, where do I start? So, talking about languages, corks, shoes, do court shoes?
Honestly, all reps from the 90s. Well, female reps, obviously. The boys weren't expected to wear court shoes, but we had strict instructions. The companies I worked for, and that was navy blue court shoes, which look great in the UK with a nice pair of tights and your smart uniform. However, let's fast forward to a nice mediterranean resort in August. And you've got a court shoe on and it's stuck. We used to have to have an area to keep our court shoes in and, like, bottles of talcum powder and things there. Just disgusting. And I worked in India and I had court shoes that I had to wear. I had to wear formal wear on welcome meeting day, transfer day. It was all about the meet and greet. It was very formalized, wasn't it?
[00:02:43] Speaker C: I didn't wear court shoes.
[00:02:45] Speaker D: Gone.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: I need to grab.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Are we saying cork or court?
[00:02:48] Speaker D: Court.
[00:02:49] Speaker C: Court. Okay.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: I thought you said cork.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: I thought you meant I'm not a female, so I wouldn't know.
[00:02:59] Speaker D: I remember we had court shoes. There had to be a certain heel height, a certain color, and all the female reps now be nodding their head and that was, first of all, we had to find blooming court shoes in the UK and if they dared to break while we was overseas, we had to have them flown out, literally. You try and find a pair of courts shoes in with a certain color and everything, uniform and heel height. It was very strict, actually. The uniform for some of the companies, hair had to be tied in a certain way.
I always remember the phrase no wispy bits or sexy tendrils in the 90s when we all had our little. You probably had your curtains back in those days.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Did you have a. Sorry to just ripple on this, but did you have dresses or skirts in most of your. Because I always used to feel sorry for the ladies because the ones that had skirts, they were horrendous.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: They had this massive, great big front.
[00:03:59] Speaker C: And they didn't look very flattering for a lot of the girls. And I used to feel very sorry.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: For them, really, to be honest.
[00:04:07] Speaker D: That's very kind of you to do that, because you should have felt sorry for them because, for starters, they were like 101% pure polyester nylon. So it was like wearing a sauna suit in the heights of summer. And the one good thing is that you didn't have to iron them, so that was good. But some of the dresses, when I worked for some world, we had these crossover dresses.
[00:04:30] Speaker C: Oh, you were someworld as well.
[00:04:31] Speaker D: I didn't realize I was too. Yeah.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: Yeah. Because I knew the guys.
I knew the guys that started Sunworld, you see. I feel a little bit guilty there. So what I should explain is that my time at Thompson's, we made IlG go bus, which was into sun and everything else. We put them out of business and I was involved with that in many ways.
And from there, someworld blossomed in Bromley, Kent and a new team that started Sunworld and everything else. So very interesting.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Anyway, carry on. Carry on, please.
[00:05:04] Speaker D: Yeah, I absolutely loved working for Sunworld, actually. Really lovely company. And I worked in their sister company, Nielsen Ski, in the winter.
So we had these amazing navy blue suits which looked so good at the airport. However, we had, like, this cream blouse to wear underneath, but it was virtually see through. I just remember us having to keep it.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Wrong brand. You should have been in the club. 1830 van.
[00:05:33] Speaker D: Well, we was in our shell suits. We were super cool in our shell suits. But, yeah, these blouses, I don't know who designed them, but they were quite transparent. So you really had to be careful with what underwear you had on with those. But they look super smart. But we had strict guidelines, like I was saying, about the hair. We had a matching scrunchie. The scrunchie is back. It's done its full fashion revival. Back in the night. It's back again. Yes, the scrunchie is back, I believe.
But ours actually matched our uniforms and our little blue bags and things. We looked super smart. It looked great at the airport. But the minute you stepped out of the airport and out of the air conditioning, things changed. It went rapidly downhill, especially if you're charging around coach parks trying to find Manuel and Jose, who are doing back to backs and literally moving the buses. And there's a case missing and you're tired, you may be a little bit hungover. Who knows? They weren't the best of outfits, but the dresses in particular were awful. One, because they were made for people, I think about five foot three, five foot four. I'm five foot seven. So mine actually laced up halfway up my back as opposed to around my waist. And for some reason, you didn't even have to have particularly large bust, but they would fly open at the top and you'd have to pin them, and they were just so uncomfortable. And really thick, thick nylon.
And they were alive.
[00:07:05] Speaker C: All designed, really, by people who didn't really know what it was like to work in resort. Because they worked in resort.
[00:07:10] Speaker D: Absolutely never worn them. But the Aline as well.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Augusta wind.
[00:07:15] Speaker D: And that was it. You was doing your Marilyn Monroe and your skirt was up around your.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: So let's. Let's delve into when we first arrived in our first.
And that was exciting times. It is. And the experience. And then you realize that you're away from home and you are breaking into new areas. Often you're not fluent in the language, maybe don't even know the language. I mean, when your first destination, did.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: You speak the language, Jeanette, that was Tenerife, wasn't it?
[00:07:47] Speaker C: Was your first destination turkey?
[00:07:49] Speaker D: No, the first travel destination. But I'd worked in Tenerife before, but no, now I didn't speak a word of again. You know, people say, oh, the English are lazy. But also when you're in tourist resorts.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: It'S an international language, number one.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Because of that, most people have a.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: Spattering of English, and so it makes it easier.
Or for us to be lazy shall mean. Just to give you an idea about my experiences, I was in Spain, obviously. I mean, I've done a lot of destinations, but in Spain for that first.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: To, I didn't just need to learn Spanish, I needed to learn Catalan, because.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: You could upset the locals in Costa Bravo if you didn't speak the local language, of course, in Majorca as well. It's Catalan and Spanish as well. So you've got a bit of a crossover there. And the other thing that's interesting, a lot of people don't realize is a lot of the staff in those hotels.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Are not normally from that area, so they'd be imported from a different part.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Of, you know, Costa Bravo would have a lot of reps, I was going to say a lot of their catering staff and general hotel staff come up from Costa del Sol in the far south. So that really made it hard on the language side. 1 minute you're speaking Spanish, next minute you're speaking Catalan, which obviously is a dialect as well.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: So I found my way around that was.
[00:09:22] Speaker C: I mean, I had some really interesting experiences.
I've been there a couple of weeks and I had a spattering of knowledge of Spanish.
I could get by in a conversation. But what I did was I was on the beach on my day off.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: And there was the lifeguard tower, and.
[00:09:42] Speaker C: I was a surfer and I was reading surfing magazine. I just went up and spoke to them about any potential surf spots around there. And I knew there wasn't much surfing going on around there at all. And the guys came down and they didn't really speak much English, but one of them did, and we got speaking and they became my best friends over.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: A period of the season.
[00:10:01] Speaker D: Nice.
[00:10:02] Speaker C: Yeah, it was fantastic. In fact, what I did was, in that one conversation, I opened up my world in that particular resort.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: And so much so that one of.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: The chaps working in lifeguard Tower introduced me to the chap who ran the surf shop. There was a surf shop, windsurfing and a surfing shop around the corner.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: And I got friendly with him.
[00:10:22] Speaker C: And then above his shop, his parents lived. So I used to go around to.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: See him and he wouldn't be there.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: For whatever reason, it'd be shut or whatever. I'd knock on the door and the mum would open the door and take me upstairs and they'd start feeding me Miranda. And the interesting thing about this, but they didn't speak a word of English. And so I used to sit.
Yeah, but this went on for months. We'd sit in the front room. It was literally a daily exercise for me, really. It became something I enjoyed doing. And I sat there and I'd sit there watching a local television station and they'd be trying to talk to me and I'll be learning. And that is how I taught myself the language. It was by watching the tv. I didn't have a tv in my room, of course, so that was an advantage for that. So I'd see the tv, I'd be able to go and watch the football with the dad.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Jordy, my friend, wouldn't be there and I'd end up.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: I've practically lived in their house and his mum and dad were fantastic.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: And that experience really broke down the.
[00:11:23] Speaker C: Barrier, the language barrier, because you had no choice. I couldn't just keep on turning up and not speak to them. And I was speaking pigeon Spanish and pigeon Catalan, so it became more of a fluent language. And I totally and utterly enjoyed that experience. So that was a real eye opener in the. You know, I had to learn Russian very quickly. We shoot off of that, won't concentrate on that because of what's going on in England.
[00:11:48] Speaker D: I was going to say, I don't remember any holidays to the Soviet Union.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: Yeah, Thompson's did Moscow and Leningrad, and then we also did Siberia and the express as well.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: So we were doing city breaks out there and everything.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: So that's a good thing.
Anyway, so what I was trying to get across was the ability to speak a language. Although it's a requirement, most travel companies say it's a requirement. It isn't really, because when you get out to resort, you do actually find that everyone does have a spattering of english coach drivers understand their jobs, everyone gets around and you understand things. That was my experience. Was it a similar one for you? Would you say you were in Turkey and Greece and Spain as well? Did you kind of experience that same sort of thing?
[00:12:37] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. Language barriers were massive in various different destinations because you could have. Certainly when I worked in places like Ibiza, which you think has, like, real high english population, I would have some small blocks of apartments that were family owned. And again, older generations would be managing the reception. Reception would only be open on transfer days and a couple of hours a day. And so you'd actually have to. There was no duolingo or Google translates for us. We would actually have the book out, wouldn't we?
[00:13:09] Speaker C: I know my children, they're shocked when I say to them, we didn't have maps. We didn't have Google Maps. We had maps and it was all in the brain.
My kids say now when I'm driving the car, I don't put them on the.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: You're right, you're not dying on us.
[00:13:26] Speaker D: Not today.
[00:13:30] Speaker C: I don't drive very often with my gps working in the car.
How do you remember all these roads? And it's because we grew up in an era where literally driving, you understood and you got to learn everything. And so we didn't have, like you say, google Maps. And one of the things with languages, we had to learn that or find.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: A way of transcribing what they're saying.
[00:13:50] Speaker C: And speaking to them and understanding.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Incidentally, I had, in Cala de Mar, I had a complex very similar to.
[00:14:00] Speaker C: What you just said. The family run only opened on the reception, and I had some nasty experiences there, actually, where another company, another british company, thought it would be funny to constantly take down our notice ball, which was pinned to the ball, because it was a smaller complex. We didn't have a big stand there, we just had a board.
[00:14:21] Speaker D: No.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: Or they'd take our transfer times out and hide them and put them behind.
You know, when you used to fill out the boards, you used to put your transfer timings in, you'd put everything else in. And often they were the same every week. So you then flip them around and the other side, you'd have the other ones, they'd flip around and they caused chaos sometimes. And it became a real problem, actually. Yeah, it was a real.
[00:14:41] Speaker D: That's not good, that's breaking rules. There was those underlying rules which I'm sure we can chat about in another one, but certainly, yes, language barrier, bus drivers, my coach drivers very rarely spoke great English. They would spoke enough. But if you had to ask for anything in particular, say you had a guest with special requirements, special needs, or a complex, you was dropping off at that. They'd asked you to go to certain places, or it was a new driver. Again, very, very difficult. So that's somewhere that I remember sitting on transfers and practicing my languages with coach drivers, because very rarely were they fluent.
[00:15:23] Speaker C: You're a female, so you probably had it quite.
[00:15:27] Speaker D: What are you saying, Wesley?
[00:15:28] Speaker C: Well, you can flirt a little bit more. I mean, you're blonde, you're good looking, and you could flirt very easily. Yes, but you could do that. You could turn the driver. It's a little bit more difficult for me, driver, in that situation, I suppose I could have done, but I wasn't flirting with destination.
[00:15:49] Speaker D: You're working in there, Wesley.
[00:15:51] Speaker C: Exactly. Yeah, I guess. But I understand totally, because we had.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Quite a few different drivers and it.
[00:16:01] Speaker C: Was quite fun when we had big delays, other airport delays, or we also had coach. We had also coaches coming down to one of the areas where I was working once express coaches from the UK, 24 hours they'd take to get down to you.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: And when they were delayed, we'd have to be parked up in the middle.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: Of nowhere because that's where you're meeting them. And that was quite an interesting experience with the coach drivers.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: Anyway, moving on.
[00:16:28] Speaker C: So we've done mastering newer languages, uniforms.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: As you said, always a problem.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: They're a whole session on there.
[00:16:36] Speaker C: Yeah, it'd be interesting to know if.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: They'Re still a problem now after all.
[00:16:39] Speaker C: These years, whether modern day reps have that issue.
[00:16:43] Speaker D: And do you remember uniforms going missing? And I worked in Cuba, I don't know if you're aware of this as well. I worked two seasons in Cuba and that certainly there would be uniforms that go missing or left in apartments by reps that leave, and next thing you know, you'd see like a cleaning lady or something wearing one of the reps uniforms or like their sweatshirts and.
Yeah, yeah, there was a degree of that. I mean, working as a club rep, we had shell suits, but we also had.
I was in Turkey as well, we had guiding shirts, which were genuine la.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Coste, can you believe it?
[00:17:23] Speaker D: They were like two pound each, but that was for the benefits. And I think I had some Tommy hilfiger uniform as well, in Tenerife. Again, I'm not going to challenge their whereabouts, where they came from, but I know the budget wouldn't have stretched to that. But, hey, they look cool and it's a lot better than the nylon.
[00:17:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I had an interesting experience. Got nothing to do with uniforms. You just sparked something. So I'm just going to tell you, it's just a quick story.
We were in Moscow and at the time the british press were saying there was a lot of food shortages and there really wasn't actually at that time in general, but the black market was working well. But the one particular meal, we sat down and I sat down with all the group and we were sitting down and it was wonderful environment. And they pulled out the first food. Now, normally you get three or four courses, which has been like previous days.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: And they brought out this food and I enjoyed it, but a lot of the other people in the group didn't.
[00:18:19] Speaker C: Enjoy it at all, so they all didn't eat it. So I just kept on. I had everyone's food and I loved it and I was dumping, plowing into this food. Anyway, we sat there, it was all taken away, we sat there waiting and nothing came. And eventually I called the head waiter, I said, well, when's the next course? I said, oh, we had a bad day today at the black market.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: And that was it.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: I'll eat everyone's dinner.
[00:18:44] Speaker D: You'd woofed the lot. Greedy boy.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: Anyway, sorry about that. That was just something you're talking about.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: I don't know why that one came up.
[00:18:54] Speaker D: It came up, I think dodgy uniforms and black market.
[00:18:57] Speaker C: Yeah, probably.
Culture shocks. Was there any major culture shocks you experienced in your life as a rep?
[00:19:03] Speaker D: Oh, gosh, yes, of course. Absolutely. I mean, when I went to work in Goa, we arrived in September, so it's off season. And I remember looking around and everything was shut. Monsoon season was just ending. The hotels were literally black with this mold and everything. It was just a massive, massive culture shock working there. And same with Cuba. In places with Cuba, because I was in Baradero most of the time, which is you could be anywhere in the Caribbean. It's a gated area to protect. Well, I don't protect tourists or to control. Going back into the 90s, Castro, Fidel Castro was still in charge. It was all about him making sure he got his cut and more.
But certainly, yeah, life in India was very different.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: Did your clients that were visiting, do you call them clients or customers? What were they called in your company?
[00:19:57] Speaker B: Guests.
[00:19:58] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:19:59] Speaker D: We was always told clients are what solicitors and ladies of the night have.
So those were guests or passengers?
[00:20:09] Speaker C: We had clients. Ours were clients mostly in my areas, they were always referred to as clients.
Now, you said, that's quite interesting, actually. But, yeah, they were clients.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: Isn't that funny?
[00:20:21] Speaker C: Again, going on from our previous episode, the difference in how things were done. It's quite interesting. I find it really intriguing.
[00:20:30] Speaker D: Yeah, I think they just sound a lot nicer. That's what they were.
[00:20:36] Speaker C: Guests on the experience, I guess. Yeah.
I was going to tell you a quick story, if you don't mind, of.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: One of my million stories that I've got of.
[00:20:48] Speaker C: The British have a reputation, particularly on the more budgetary type of holiday, of ham, egg and chips and meat and two veg sort of attitude when they're in foreign countries.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: This really was the biggest shock for.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: Some of my clients, particularly one time.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: There was a two star, and these.
[00:21:12] Speaker C: People have paid for 14 nights, not even a couple of hundred pound. It was about 175 pound then. So I'm going back a little bit now.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: The hotel had problems and caught fire.
[00:21:27] Speaker C: And so they were moved from the hotel.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Now, because of the problems, it was.
[00:21:32] Speaker C: My decision to make.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: I moved them to a five star.
[00:21:37] Speaker C: Four and a half. I'd say it was a five star, but I think it was four star at the time. Hotel down the road. Now, this is a hotel that I used to actually go. I didn't have any guests in it. It wasn't one that we used. It was really smart. Small but smart. Lovely swimming pool.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: Food was beautiful, but the food was all spanish. You know where I'm going with this?
[00:21:55] Speaker D: Okay, I do.
[00:21:57] Speaker C: I can sense fantastic. And I'd often go in there. I met the hotel manager a few times and he used to say to me, come in, have a free meal on me always. So whenever I was passing, I would just turn up and go down into the restaurant and get free. And the food was just fantastic. Octopus, squid, all fresh fish. It was really local, traditional food.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: So I put all my guests in.
[00:22:21] Speaker C: There and they were really pleased at first. They all got lovely rooms overlooking the pool. They had a little bit of sea view and everything.
And I put a rep to go in there to look after that because it was crossing over here. So I said, look. And then I got a phone call.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: The next morning from the rep in tears.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: I said, okay, I'll come down. I was a more senior rep and I came down, I sorted out.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: But I walked into the reception and.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: The hotel manager was pulling his hair out. He looked like little Manuel off of Basil.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: Faulty.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: No, not Basil. Manuel. Isn't it?
[00:22:54] Speaker D: Manuel, Manuel, yeah, from Barcelona.
[00:22:57] Speaker C: Exactly. By the way, if you go to Barcelona, you're sitting down in the ramblers. You'll see mini versions of him walking up and down where people are copying him. It's quite funny. Anyway, yeah, whip him back.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: So there I was, and I walked into this reception area and it looked.
[00:23:16] Speaker C: Like a riot going on.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: So I had every single guest that.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: I'd put from that hotel into this hotel. So I'd gone from a two star, something they really couldn't.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Okay, yeah.
[00:23:28] Speaker C: And there was a couple of ringleaders and it was kicking off and they wanted to move. They wanted to go back to a different. They wanted to go back to a two star or three star hotel. They'd seen a hotel they wanted to go to and that's where they wanted to go and everything else. And I've got the ringleaders and there's always two or three. And anyone who's looking to become a rep when you get a situation like this, always look for the ringleaders. There'd always be one or two that are actually stirring the pot and those that are existing reps now that haven't had this experience, you probably will at some stage again, look for these ringleaders. So I pulled the ringleaders to one side and I said, look, what's the problem here? Why are you stirring everyone up? Why are you saying these things?
[00:24:02] Speaker B: We can't eat this muck. I said, what muck? This is the food in the restaurant. This food.
[00:24:07] Speaker C: I said, it's award winning.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: That's fantastic.
[00:24:09] Speaker C: I mean, it's really beautiful, local, traditional food.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: We want egg and chips. We want chips on this, we want.
[00:24:17] Speaker C: This, we want that. And I looked at them and I.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Said, we want english food. He said, and this particular chap, I've got a picture of him, round chap.
[00:24:26] Speaker C: With a big round face, and he said, we want, you know, tattoos all down his arm.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: And I said to him, but you're in Spain.
Why would you want english food in Spain? We want english food.
[00:24:38] Speaker C: That's what we want.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: I said, well, then go back to England. And his face when I said that.
[00:24:42] Speaker C: I said, you don't travel overseas and expect. So.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: One of the things that culturally was.
[00:24:47] Speaker C: Shocking for me was that british. That was my first real experience of seeing that. And it's probably the early stage of it, really.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: And I was so shocked to see that the attitude of we want our.
[00:24:57] Speaker C: Food from our country in another country.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Or we won't travel there.
[00:25:02] Speaker D: So eventually I did.
[00:25:03] Speaker C: I spoke to all the guests individually and I moved some of them to another hotel, which was a two star.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Which they loved it.
[00:25:10] Speaker C: After that, they couldn't believe I'd done it for them. And they thought it was the best thing since last bread. And then the other ones that stayed.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: There, really, they enjoyed the culture.
[00:25:18] Speaker C: And I remember this old, elderly lady, she came up to me and said, thank you very much. She said, I could never have fought of this in my whole life.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Actually brings a tear to my eyes.
[00:25:29] Speaker C: Talking about this, Miranda.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: And she gave me a big hug.
[00:25:32] Speaker C: And she said it was the best holiday she'd had.
[00:25:37] Speaker D: There's you enhancing. I know. Gosh, blimey.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:25:43] Speaker D: We go back to enhancing people's experiences, giving them memories for life.
I had a baby named after me.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Did you? Wow.
[00:25:52] Speaker D: Yes, I did. Yes.
[00:25:54] Speaker C: That's amazing.
[00:25:56] Speaker D: From a club rep holiday as well. From a club 18 to had a young couple come out on their honeymoon. They were a very young couple, still fun loving. Came out on their honeymoon and it was in the days of writing letters and, yeah, they named their daughter after me. So somewhere in the world is another miranda. What would be. Yeah, I know. Can you believe it?
Late 20s, maybe, was 1993, so did the math there. Yeah.
[00:26:28] Speaker C: 20S.
[00:26:30] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: 31.
[00:26:32] Speaker D: Yeah. Named after their holiday rep. So if you're listening.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: Still here. I had just diverse in a little bit again. I do that a lot.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: I'm like Timmy Mallett.
[00:26:44] Speaker C: Flip around, like, all over the place. I said that because I've got his book up there. He's signed autograph book. I just saw it on my shelf.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: I had an experience with one particular chap.
[00:26:55] Speaker C: Fantastic man. This isn't cultural, really. So I shouldn't really bring it up.
[00:27:00] Speaker D: But.
[00:27:03] Speaker B: He was a reader, and I.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: Felt very sorry for me.
[00:27:06] Speaker B: He'd lost his wife that winter, and he came five times that season to the hotel. Five times.
[00:27:14] Speaker C: He'd go back home and then he'd book another trip and come back over. It was wonderful.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: And he would just bring with him.
[00:27:21] Speaker C: A stack of books. And they were wild westerns, american western books, black horse westerns, they were called. And he used to leave them in reception. Well, one day, and I started reading a couple, and I told him on his second visit, I said, I really enjoyed your books. It's actually been. I was looking forward to going back to my room to read because I.
[00:27:37] Speaker D: Was quite into it.
[00:27:38] Speaker C: And I hadn't been a big reader up until that point. And he brought out one day he came out to me, and the day.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: He was leaving, he said, I'm not.
[00:27:45] Speaker C: Giving these to anyone.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: These are for you in new district. And it was a whole stack.
[00:27:49] Speaker C: And it changed my outlook on things, actually. And it was such a nice chap.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: But I didn't realize how.
[00:27:57] Speaker C: He was obviously so lonely and so.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: Upset that he needed to come.
[00:28:02] Speaker C: He was coming to the same hotel.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: Because he felt like home.
[00:28:06] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:28:06] Speaker C: And I thought that was really touchy.
[00:28:07] Speaker D: They probably have the same room as. Do you remember room requests? Somebody requesting the same room?
[00:28:12] Speaker C: Oh, God.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: I've got so many stories. I'm sure I'll warn you now, Miranda, one thing about me is that everything.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: Goes wrong with me.
[00:28:22] Speaker D: That can go wrong.
I was a big digressor, Wesley.
[00:28:26] Speaker C: But no, everything can go wrong for me. That can go wrong. If there's something like one in 10 million, it'll be me.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: If it's one in 1 million, it'll be me.
[00:28:34] Speaker C: That's the situation.
[00:28:35] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: It's kind of passed on a generation. It's passed on generation to my son as well.
That's a different story. That's a private conversation we shall have.
Right.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: So.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: We can share some tales of adapting to various environments and dealing with culture shock and overcoming linguistic barriers.
Just interrupt him for a small commercial break, and then we'll be straight back to the podcast.
[00:29:02] Speaker E: Do you hear it?
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[00:29:51] Speaker D: And also religious barriers because working in Turkey, it's a muslim country. And so, yeah, big changes there. Because could you imagine us as club reps in a country like that?
[00:30:04] Speaker C: Because that was quite early in the be doing that as well.
[00:30:06] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. So we'd have trips to go and see local mosques and things and what have the turkish experience. You always have a culture day, don't you like your island tour or island snore, as we used to call it, as reps. Because we did it.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: You were there in 9494-9393 just 93.
[00:30:26] Speaker C: That's no return.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: Yes, because, you know, I ran a.
[00:30:31] Speaker C: Company that did holidays in 94. 95.
[00:30:34] Speaker D: No, in 94 and 95 I went over to Cyprus and worked in Cyprus.
[00:30:40] Speaker C: That must have been changed, going from Greece to Turkey. Turkey to Greece. Because they didn't in those days like you to Turkish.
[00:30:47] Speaker D: They weren't happy. They didn't like my passport one bit. And yes, I did get lots of questions and things about that. And it's quite funny because I found when I was sorting my things out for my move, I found what was called my alien card for when Cyprus.
[00:31:03] Speaker C: Great finding stuff like that. I like finding my rv. Maybe I should point out that I'm in the United Kingdom and Miranda's moved to Finland at the.
[00:31:15] Speaker D: States.
[00:31:16] Speaker C: Nordics.
[00:31:17] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:31:18] Speaker C: Maybe you'll stay there for some time, who knows? But you're living it up and back to enjoying life, albeit cold at the moment.
[00:31:26] Speaker D: Yeah, well, it's winter, but the winter is beautiful.
[00:31:29] Speaker C: Can you have a lot of snow? Did I see a photograph of a.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: Lot of snow just come down.
[00:31:32] Speaker D: Just had another dump of snow. And apparently the Finn say this is what happens is the old snow gets.
I thought it was clearing, it was really melting, it was raining. So I thought, oh, gosh, winter is over. But no, tricked, tricked again. And apparently Easter can also bring another big dump of snow. So still keep the boots out and the winter clothes and things. But the summer's beautiful here and it's a shame. Everyone thinks of Finland as just winter.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: But the summers, well, they think of it. Most people think of Finland, although Helsinki has become quite popular now. But most people.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: I mean, I'll be honest with you.
[00:32:12] Speaker C: Helsinki is one of the best destinations.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: I've ever been to in my life.
[00:32:15] Speaker D: Oh, wow.
[00:32:16] Speaker C: I've traveled to a lot of cities, but I enjoyed myself tremendously in Helsinki. But a lot of people think of Finland just for older Santa Claus up north. Father Christmas.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:28] Speaker D: And Lapland and saunas, which is interesting. I had my first birch leaf experience the other day in the sauna.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: Did you?
[00:32:38] Speaker C: Okay, explain what happens with that.
[00:32:42] Speaker D: The birch leaves. Everyone always thinks that you're being whipped with the birch leaves, but it's not. It's more of a brushing. It's to release the oils, and it's also to stimulate the skin.
[00:32:52] Speaker C: And you're nude.
[00:32:54] Speaker D: No, I'm not, Wesley. I was in a communal sauna, and in fact, it was a communal sauna.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: I thought the communal saunas were nude.
[00:33:03] Speaker D: In Finland, you can go to nude ones, but this one, just a public one, and it was closed on. There were signs to say that you had to keep your clothes on. So sorry to ruin that illusion for Tuesday morning.
[00:33:23] Speaker C: Let it down.
[00:33:25] Speaker D: Let's clear the. Get the week started. But no, it's an amazing virtual experience, and it's something I hadn't experienced here in Finland before.
[00:33:33] Speaker C: But I want to cover something very quickly. I'm going to whip around again. Total change of direction.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: We've both done radio.
[00:33:39] Speaker D: Yes, we have.
[00:33:41] Speaker C: Do you think that came about, and.
[00:33:44] Speaker B: This is a real break from what.
[00:33:45] Speaker C: We'Re supposed to be talking about, but do you think that came about because.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: Of our experiences of being an overseas rep?
[00:33:51] Speaker D: Oh, totally.
We've got the ability to present, ability to hold conversation.
Well, the listeners might agree.
Yeah, they may not agree, but. No, definitely. Because the amount of presenting that you do as an overseas rep, be it welcome meetings, transfers, and also, like you, I was a lecturer as well, in travel and tourism.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: I didn't know that.
[00:34:15] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:34:16] Speaker C: Did you find. I mean, I've got to be careful here, because I could upset some people, and I still know them, so I need to be a little bit careful. But there were certain people in the travel and tourism courses that we were teaching that really.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: I like to refer to them as washed up.
[00:34:32] Speaker C: They weren't really.
I was still flamboyant and out there doing things and everything else when I did it. And what I found was that there were other people that weren't really of the same ilk.
[00:34:43] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:34:43] Speaker C: That's my experience. Again, I got to be careful here.
[00:34:46] Speaker D: People are different, though, aren't they? And everyone's.
[00:34:48] Speaker C: So you're politically correct.
[00:34:50] Speaker D: I'm terrible because I may be one of those people you're describing, because I've had no in my life. I felt like that.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: No, not washed up, as in that's.
[00:35:02] Speaker C: Probably the wrong one word. Probably not as experienced as you would think for teaching and such an important subject. And travel and tourism is an important subject and a lot of people don't understand that. And I think you need to have.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: A real diverse experience and not just.
[00:35:18] Speaker C: Being stuck to one side of the industry. I mean, I don't know about your travel experience. Obviously, you've got the overseas reps, but my experience is travel agency tour, operating overseas rep airlines. I've done really most of the areas of the industry and including also tourist board stuff as well. So I've experienced all that, which is quite beneficial. Okay. Because time's moving on. Shall we quickly see if there's anything else we can talk about the rewards of living and working abroad?
[00:35:47] Speaker B: For me, the reward was, I think, experience the cultural differences and experiencing.
Meeting interesting characters and meeting customers or.
[00:36:06] Speaker C: Guests, as you call them, and the different ways of life. I find nothing better than sitting down talking to people. And that was my biggest thing I.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: Think I pulled from being a rep, was that the real living and working.
[00:36:21] Speaker C: On board environment is the best thing you should do. And I would recommend that to everyone.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: I think it really makes you a rounded person when you understand the ins.
[00:36:32] Speaker C: And outs working aboard. That's my thoughts. What are yours? Or have I answered them all for you?
[00:36:37] Speaker D: Pretty similar to that. I mean, people's psychology is something that always interests me. People watching characters, but also like you experiencing new places, newer situations. I love the teamwork as well, the collab, whereas I think you worked a lot more on your own.
However, I was generally right.
[00:36:59] Speaker C: I used to go up to the.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: Office, I'd see everyone, but it was.
[00:37:02] Speaker C: Very much a case of I was in my own areas and that was it.
[00:37:06] Speaker D: Yeah. Whereas mine was in groups. I worked as a chalet host in French Alps, where I started on my own. But I then had a coworker who I'd worked with in Tenerife.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: Can I ask, because I know all about chalet hosts and everything else, but.
[00:37:24] Speaker C: I don't really know what you did.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: So what would a chalet host do in a chalet?
[00:37:30] Speaker C: Did you do all the washing and cleaning as well? And the cooking?
[00:37:33] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:37:33] Speaker B: You did the cooking as well?
[00:37:36] Speaker D: Yes, I did. I ran a four star chalet in La Tanya.
[00:37:39] Speaker C: So you're a good cook?
[00:37:42] Speaker D: I did the same recipes for 17 weeks. I had a good menu that I worked on the tovali.
[00:37:53] Speaker C: For the listeners. What did you cook?
[00:37:54] Speaker D: Okay, the first night, egg and chips went out with chips?
No, it was four star. Thank you. You can keep your egg and chips.
[00:38:03] Speaker C: Ham and chips, then with a sausage.
[00:38:05] Speaker D: No. And ski guests are very different to guests that we had in the summer holiday resort. And also, like I said, it's a Nielsen chalet. It was a new chalet as well. So my menu for the first day would be something that I could stew because the transfer day, people arrive from different places, different times. So my chalet had catered for twelve people, but I could have six different parties in that. Twelve people. So some could be flying in, some be getting the snow train in, some could be driving.
Six rooms? Yes, six rooms. Did you live in?
Yes, I lived in the basement and with my coworker.
Exactly what you said. We did have people knock on our door and all sorts of things, especially as we had free flowing wine throughout the meal.
So it was quite a tipsy chalet.
[00:39:01] Speaker C: We can cover that in another episode because I think there's a lot to be said about that. Okay. Coming back to your menu, you gave them like a goulash type.
[00:39:12] Speaker D: It was a birth burg and yon. Thank you. Okay, that would be with. I remember it's dolphin was potatoes and different vegetables. But also we'd have a meet and greet. So it was mulled wine on arrival. And then we did these really lovely, like, cheese scones with Bosan. So there'd be a little snack for them to arrive.
All meals were three courses as well. And our kitchen was a normal size kitchen and open plan. In fact, it was smaller than normal because it was literally, we had like a bench style dining. And then the kitchen had a bar on it. And so the guests would come and talk to you as you're cooking.
Lovely that they're being so friendly. But the last thing you want to be doing when you're catering for twelve people, well, 13 people, because our resort rep would come in for food as well.
[00:40:05] Speaker C: That's amazing.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: I mean, you couldn't get away.
[00:40:10] Speaker C: They were living like part of the family.
[00:40:14] Speaker B: I can see the complications there as well.
[00:40:17] Speaker C: If you get a group of chaps, I can see complications there.
[00:40:21] Speaker D: We didn't have that very often because the nature of the chalet. But we did have a group of navy boys of different ages come in any officers.
[00:40:31] Speaker C: No, officers.
[00:40:32] Speaker D: There was officers. Yes, there was all sorts. But our chalet was very fun. We did good food and we were really hospitable. But we also made it a great place to be. The amount of letters and things that we received and no, it was a really fun period of my life. But I remember by week 15, because it was 17 weeks, by week 15, honestly, I couldn't face making another burf bog and yon. I did not want to do a welcome meeting. I didn't want to answer the question about where the lifts were, where the passes were, what was the best routes. I wasn't a skier either.
[00:41:13] Speaker C: I've never skied either. I've never skied, which is surprising because I'm a surfer, but I've never skied.
[00:41:18] Speaker D: Yeah, well, I went to work in ski resort to be a skier, but it was just the chalet was so busy and then the weather changes and you're just so full on anyway, but I learned basics and things.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: Have you ever cooked one big regret?
[00:41:33] Speaker D: Oh, gosh, yeah, absolutely.
My son still loves my birth Bergignon and, yeah, it's a great dish. I mean, it's quite simple, isn't it, really? There's not much to it, but it tastes good.
[00:41:46] Speaker C: Fantastic. That's really interesting. I find that really interesting. That's a lovely story. Thank you for sharing that. That's great.
Times got on beaten us again on this particular episode and we've diversified. I'm sure as the series goes on, we'll get a little bit more sharp or not jumping around like a cricket on the table. But it's been a pleasure sharing all these stories with you as listeners.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: And thank you again, Miranda.
[00:42:13] Speaker D: You are welcome, Wesley. It's lovely to join you.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: As we wrap up for another episode of journeybound stories from overseas travel representatives, we're reminded of experiences and adventures that connect us all. The world is truly an expansive place, yet stories like this bring us closer together. Join us again next podcast for more captivating narratives from across the globe. And until next time, safe travels, wherever your journey may take.
