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 Route to Cape Town. We stop to ride an ostrich, swim with sharks, ride a foofy slide and drink buckets of wine (sensibly). 

In the words of Shakira - Tsamina eh, eh / Waka waka, eh, eh / It's time for [South] Africa. So break out your baby wipes, wipe away your prejudices and live life like a millionaire on the Rand. 

Final boarding call: Cape Town, South Africa 

This episode is sponsored by The PIE Live leadership conferences taking place in Mumbai, Gold Coast, London and Boston in 2024. Find out more about tickets and sponsorship opportunities at www.thepielive.com 

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

Transcript

Andy: 0:02

by a donkey

Nick: 0:03

It's just another excuse to be at the bottom of the garden.

Andy: 0:05

Do you know what you've got, Nick? Midlife crisis. That's what you've got.

Nick: 0:14

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: 0:38

Today we're joined on the show by Lucinda Lately, the Director of English Tests Marketing at PSI Services, and she is our first South African, our first SAFA.

Nick: 0:49

She was a ray of sunshine. She was so lovely.

Andy: 0:52

And she gives this amazing description of this kind of dual life that she's forged for herself in the sun, on the beaches of South Africa, and then back here in the UK.

Nick: 1:02

She's like a migratory bird. She keeps going back every summer, there is the passion about where you come from, but her description of South Africa and particularly the Cape, It's just wonderful.

Andy: 1:14

it's a real love letter to Cape Town and the Garden Route, one of the world's best road trips along the coast there.

Nick: 1:20

it becomes a kind of food and drink episode. We discuss. Fine wine, and delicious food

Andy: 1:28

and nature.

Nick: 1:29

nature that you can eat.

Andy: 1:31

edible nature. It's worth listening to just for the wine recommendations. we get onto feet again, don't we? she likes to take her shoes off all the time. So I think she grew up with no shoes. And she talks about also that introspection and realizing that actually she needed to explore to find new people and to see what was out there in the world. And that started her love of travel.

Nick: 1:51

Yes, this idea that you couldn't really marry someone from your hometown. You needed to go and explore the world first before you made a decision.

Andy: 1:58

She talks about plane cleanliness. She teaches us some Afrikaans. All in all, it's a lovely chat.

Nick: 2:04

good vibes only.

Andy: 2:06

She's the South African Wanderluster, living an endless summer of beaches and fizzy wine. Let's get some tales from the Departure Lounge from Lucinda Lately.

Lesinda: 2:15

We would sit on the beach and the big waves would come and you just see the shark like in the waves just cruising and you just see the like lifeguards go because there's no shark nets. I heard on the weather report, you know, that song I take the news I need from the weather report. That's pretty much what it's like when I'm there, The pits needs wiping, man. We call it a foofy slide so that's it, you know, love. I love what we do I get to see fabulous countries and meet amazing people. So that's my why.

Nick: 2:46

So before we get into the episode,

2:48

I want to tell you about the pilot of events that are happening around the world in 2024 and how you can get involved. The next stop is the city of Mumbai in India, where we'll be delivering a bespoke event for university partners on the 26th of July. Then the team will be back on the gold coast again. For the PI live Asia Pacific and that takes place on the 29th to the 30th of July in Australia.. Later in the year, we'll be hosting the pioneer awards in London on the 13th of September. Congratulations to all the nominees. And that will be followed by the pipeline north America in Boston, on the 19th and 20th of November, just two weeks after the presidential election. On a personal note, I've lived engaging with the international education community all over the world. And it's fair to say that the conversation is now business critical with so much policy disruption. Now these events have become really popular, especially when tales from the departure lounge is live on stage. So, if you want to participate, then check out the PI live.com for more details on tickets and sponsorship. now let's get on with the episode

Andy: 3:54

Ascender, welcome to the show. It's great to have you on.

Lesinda: 3:56

Thank you very much for having me. This is very exciting.

Andy: 3:59

The first question we always ask our guests is, if you could take them anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Lesinda: 4:04

for me, countries are like music, right? it depends on your mood, where you want to be. but most of the time it always goes back to my home country. So I would love to take everyone to South Africa and I'd like to take a picture because there's this feeling in the air when you get off the plane, right? And it's like the blue sky that you've never seen before I've never seen a blue like the blue in South Africa and then there's the smell especially when you land in Cape Town Because there's a certain kind of plant that only grows there called finebush and it's like a succulenty type thing, but it has a very distinct smell. And whenever mom and dad picks me up at George Airport, because I spend lots of time there, the smell comes through the air conditioning and You're driving and you just see this undisrupted wild ocean and this fine bush smell and people are smiling and dancing and it's languages and smells of food in the air and the sun is shining. It's just incredible and it's so lovely. I wish I could bottle that feeling and sell it at events and I think everyone should at least experience it once in their life.

Andy: 5:08

I have a vested interest in that my mum's South African and I spent a few years in South Childhood holidays there. And I get that smell and smells are so powerful, aren't they? They just take you back not only to a place. Generally, they take you back to an exact point in your history.

Nick: 5:23

I'm surprised that nobody has talked about South Africa. You're the first. Nobody's talked about South Africa before on the podcast.

Lesinda: 5:30

it's pretty spectacular. I mean, there's so many different cultures entwined together on the street. We're not just talking South African people, we're talking the African continent, you know, people that come to South Africa, it's different cuisines, it's different types of drinks, you hear all these words and say, oh, it's just incredible.

Nick: 5:48

We've had so many great descriptions of dream cities, dream, Geographical locations, just describe to listeners. Who've never been to Cape town, what it's like,

Lesinda: 5:59

Wow. how long have we got? Imagine you've got this gigantic beautiful, wonder of the wall table mountain. That's a backdrop to most of it, right? Then you've got the ocean that is. The most beautiful blue you've ever imagined with white, powdery sand beaches with these boulders that, um, It looks out of place almost, right? Almost like, different planet when you go into one of those beaches. And then, you can do everything in Cape Town. Anything your heart desires. There's mountain climbing, hiking. Game drives, parasailing, diving, shark diving, you can go,, wine tasting within minutes, It's just there. And it's literally some of the best wines in the world. there's this beautiful, couple of wine farms there, but you're sitting on heels and you've just got this Cape town in the background down below you and the sun is shining and, it's colorful. You've got Boerkop, which is very much the old Malaysian side of the Cape town but it's now just this picturesque little, neighborhood with multicolored houses. It's close to big gardens. And then you've got Van Riebeck's castle, which is, kind of the Dutch who made Cape town where it is today. So they still got the Pentagon castle there and the cuisine, I mean, where do I stop? You've got your pap, which is like a starchy, thing we make, which we eat with this sauce and you eat with your hands and it's got all sorts of brie flakes, which is obviously our version of barbecue, just better.

Andy: 7:25

Where are you? But where are you based now? That's in there.

Lesinda: 7:27

I'm in Whitstable, close to Canterbury.

Andy: 7:30

So similar to Cape town. Uh, what, uh, what do you, do you get, do you get back there often?

Lesinda: 7:37

I do actually, I now go every summer, I, I escape as soon as it gets cold here, I pack my bags and then I come back again when the sun comes back. So I'm like a bird.

Nick: 7:49

This is a great idea because you're earning UK wages. And I think the South African Rand has been weak for a long time. So your money, your money goes a really long way in what we're describing as paradise

Lesinda: 8:01

Like honestly, so I go and I live with mom and dad and it's the cutest thing because I have like a small bedroom with a tiny single bed, but it's my place for three months. And, I'll take them and my brother and his partner. We'll go out for the nicest dinner you can imagine. Everyone drinks what they want. it's bottles of red wine and I'm on the Prosecco and you know, it's three courses, the best, and it's like 75 pounds. It's really, I mean, I pay that for, you pay that for two people having a, basic dinner in London, right? So yeah, I milk it. I milk it for what it's worth. That's for sure.

Andy: 8:36

My cousin sent me a video recently and it's, you know, the Bami army for cricket and it was in South Africa and they're singing, I've got 23 rounds to the pound. I've got 23 rounds. And then, and then they go, Oh, I've got 24 rounds. Yeah.

Lesinda: 8:54

It literally has been fluctuating like that. It's crazy.

Andy: 8:57

I think everyone feels very rich when they, when they go there, but the negative side to that is that. people living in South Africa, obviously it becomes very difficult to leave. You always become a more of a financial prisoner.

Lesinda: 9:07

No, that's true. Absolutely. There's always the flip side.

Andy: 9:11

Yeah.

Nick: 9:11

We don't see enough, uh, South African students being able to study abroad in some of the major destinations, but just because it's so unaffordable for them.

Lesinda: 9:20

That is true. Um, that is very true. But I also think, nowadays the UK is not really the flavor of the month in South Africa anymore. You know, even if we look at immigration, it used to be the UK all the way. Then it was Canada for a while. It's now the Netherlands because they're recruiting quite highly in IT and accounting in that position. So even Malta, I mean, when I was living in Malta, there was thousands of South Africans on that tiny, tiny island, but you're right. it's harder and harder for kids to go and study abroad.

Nick: 10:06

I had a taxi driver and, and, I said, Oh, what's it like to live in Cape town? And he just said, well, my hardest decision is really whether I swim in the Indian ocean or in the Atlantic ocean, you know, whether I go surfing in this part or this part today, that was it. And I just thought, wow, what a life.

Lesinda: 10:24

know that song, or Paul Simon say, um I make my decisions. I heard on the weather report, you know, that song I take the news I need from the weather report. That's pretty much what it's like when I'm there, you know, I'm barefoot every day. Most of my parents live more kind of towards Mossel Bay, which is, you know, about four hours drive from Cape Town, so that's the Indian Ocean side So,, I prefer the Indian Ocean because the Atlantic Ocean is like fridge water I can go into about shin height and then I have to nail out again because I get frostbite my ankles man It's so bad But in the Indian Ocean you can swim you can run in so I live before I start working. So this is quite cheeky, right? but I work English times when I'm in South Africa, so I only start working at 11 o'clock, pretty much South African time, but I obviously work later in the evening. But my day starts with a 10k, and then I run down, run into the, to the sea with my clothes, lie on the beach for half an hour to dry off, walk home barefoot. I shower and I don't put shoes on, like I'm without shoes for days. I'm literally, there's no one in my age there. Everyone is retirees. It's like the best time, the best three months you can have. Proper cleansing reset

Andy: 11:34

And this, uh, Muscle Bay is on one of the epic road journeys in the world, isn't it? The garden route.

Lesinda: 11:40

Yep.

Andy: 11:40

talk us through the garden route for people that don't know about it.

Lesinda: 11:43

So the garden route is pretty much, Between Cape Town and, Port Elizabeth, or I would say Plattenburg Bay, that would be the main area. It's kind of George and Eisenhower wilderness. And it gets much more leafier, so it's, as soon as you get to Morsel Bay area, you know, the Cape can be quite dry. It's quite, deserty, lots of fine, which as I said, succulently, but the more you get towards Morsel Bay and beyond, it gets really forest like and green and it's very, very different, not as mountainous really as It's like the Cape Town side, even though there still is a lot of mountains there, but the sea is just warmer. a lot of sharks. There's the Great White close to where mom and dad is. No penguins though, which is a shame. Every now and then there's one on the beach, but a bit lost. But um, you know, lots of wine tasting, on the garden route. We've got the forests there in Leisner, You can still go and see the monkeys in the forest and the elephants. There's still some left. Um, you know, just beautiful. You can just keep on driving it right. You, you drive and stop and there's hostels everywhere and camping sites. So a lot of people make a holiday out of it. They fly into Cape Town, rent a car, and then drive all the way up onto to Plattenburg Bay, and then you can fly back out again from George, which is the local airport which I fly into when I go home. I fly to Cape Town and then get a connection to George

Andy: 13:03

It's the diversity of it. You can see whales, like you say, and sharks and. The occasional penguin and all this wildlife and, uh, but then you've got all this dramatic scenery and, have you been to the, the Storms River Bridge?

Lesinda: 13:15

I have.

Andy: 13:16

yeah, I, I, I jumped that,

Lesinda: 13:18

Oh,

Andy: 13:19

bun, that bungee jump.

Lesinda: 13:20

They now have the longest, we call it a foofy slide, um, zip line. So they now,

Andy: 13:26

slide.

Lesinda: 13:27

yeah, we call it foofy slides. They now have, it's like from the top of the point, which is in Mossel Bay, there's this, Old grotto, which still has Bushman paintings inside. But on the top is a big lighthouse. And then now I have made a zipline from the top down to the beach area. And it's over a kilometre long, but you come from the top. So it's now the longest overseas zipline. in the world, apparently. And, you're very right, Andrew, I forgot to mention the whales earlier, because there's a lot of them. And usually when I'm there, I'm just there towards the end of the mom and baby season. So when I'm running, in the mornings,, I see the whales playing and there's like schools of dolphins coming, and these little deer and things in the, people's gardens feeding off grass. It's really, it's quite a bizarre experience, actually.

Andy: 14:17

So

Lesinda: 14:21

but yeah, you can go see them in the game reserve.

Andy: 14:24

Where are you on eating, um, eating Bambi and game and all these lovely animals that live in South Africa?

Lesinda: 14:30

When you say it like that, I mean, I might be hated now and ousted from everyone's lives, but I'm a massive carnivore. I love, I love my meat. I do, I do cherish every animal I eat. I do say thank you and grace for them. Sounds terrible, doesn't it? Ostrich is my favorite. I love ostrich steaks. They're so good. Um, and I do like kudu.

Andy: 14:51

I was about to say, yeah, I had a Koo steak, which I still maintain is the best piece of meat that I've ever

Lesinda: 14:56

The kudu is so lovely.

Nick: 14:57

Ostrich is very lean, isn't it? Very healthy and lean. Yeah.

Lesinda: 15:01

say people with cholesterol problems or that kind of stuff, you know, they, they recommend they eat ostrich,, ostrich steaks. And funny enough, where my parents live is the big ostrich area. It's close to Oatswooden. it's like just full of ostrich farms everywhere. You can actually go and ride them, which is weird, but some people go ride ostriches. I know I haven't. I

Andy: 15:24

How, how is there a weight limit? Can I ride an ostrich?

Lesinda: 15:28

I've seen men on ostriches. I believe you can. I mean, you get, you get some, they're quite hefty animals, right? They, they're strong. And if that, if that fucker starts chasing you, I mean, you're done, mate. if they just look at you, skew you, run. Because their kicks are fatal, man. They've killed people.

Andy: 15:46

They look quite scary and mad and angry as well, don't they?

Lesinda: 15:49

And then they've got the beak.

Nick: 15:51

the beak and the eyes. And I could imagine you'd sit on its back and its head would just turn and, check your Eyes out.

Lesinda: 15:57

But then they have these long eyelashes, don't they? flutter their eyes and you're like, I love you! Pew! And they go for you.

Andy: 16:06

where are you with, biltong, buddhavoss, those kind of things? Are you a dried meat?

Lesinda: 16:10

Last weekend I have, put together my built on box. I bought my own. I'm going to start making my own built up.

Andy: 16:15

I will happily pay for that.

Lesinda: 16:17

I can make three kilos at a time, I'll share.

Nick: 16:19

Another South African entrepreneur in London.

Lesinda: 16:22

You'll see me soon on the front page of Biltong News.

Nick: 16:26

someone told me a horrible story recently about someone who ate loads of jerky, then drank loads of water and then it all rehydrated in their stomach,

Andy: 16:35

That can't be right.

Nick: 16:37

and they exploded. No, no,

Lesinda: 16:39

If that was the case, you would have a nation of exploding people because the amount of alcohol South Africans consume at the same time of eating biltong, I mean, we would have a natural disaster.

Andy: 16:50

Yeah. Yeah. It's a beer

Lesinda: 16:52

I speak out of experience there.

Nick: 16:56

Have you ever done shark diving in a cage?

Lesinda: 17:00

Every year I threaten I'm gonna do it. Every year. I think my parents are a bit averse to me doing it. I was accident prone as a child and I think my parents just feel I would be the person with a gate just open. I'd love to do it. I'll tell you what, if a few years back, what we've had is, Because of the, orcas having problems in the orca waters, they come in closer to Cape town and they've not got food. So there was a period where they were coming hunting the great whites, right? Because there's lots of great whites where mom and dad lives. But what we saw was like a lot of sharks coming close to the shore. And I kid you not, it wasn't last year when I was there, it was the year when I was there before. We would sit on the beach and the big waves would come and you just see the shark like in the waves just cruising and you just see the like lifeguards go because there's no shark nets. Because it's protected, right? So you've got guys like just looking and then blowing missiles and people swimming out. It's pretty wild, isn't it?

Andy: 18:04

They always say, don't they? You're more likely to get struck by a lightning twice or something than eaten by a shark. But then when you see that, you think

Lesinda: 18:11

I'm not

Andy: 18:12

it feels pretty likely. I do feel a lot like food in their environment.

Lesinda: 18:16

I'm not going to risk it.

Nick: 18:17

I think you're asking for trouble if you can start going swimming in the same waters that they're doing cage diving with man eating sharks.

Lesinda: 18:25

full of chump, isn't it?

Nick: 18:26

The bait.

Lesinda: 18:28

So they're just chucking all these bloody piles of stuff in the water, and you know, you just happen to like cruise by minding your own business, you know, I don't risk it.

Nick: 18:39

The obvious question here is safety. South Africa has such a reputation for being unsafe. I know a lot of people, tourists, would be afraid. So tell us what you're afraid of. That's really what it's like.

Lesinda: 18:53

I think this is one of those things that differs from person to person, okay? And I think I've been lucky enough to have seen an extensive amount of countries in my life and I've been in places where I felt unsafe and I've been in places where I felt really safe. I think it depends on where you are and where you go. like in many places, I think it's potentially, it's the, the types of crime that happens here that might be a little bit more extreme than other places and the reasons for crime. I'm grateful that I've never been, you know, the victim of any bad crime in South Africa. So maybe my, my version, my vision or version is skewed a little bit. I mean, I've never had, again, touch with anything bad happen to me in South Africa. However, in the UK, I've had my handbag stolen multiple times. So, um, out of pubs and, you know, from underneath my chairs and stuff. Again, it's never been heavy crime. But, um, so I think, yeah, again, it depends on where you go. where you walk, you know, at night. I wouldn't go out at night alone. My dad wouldn't let me. I mean, I'm 45 years old and my dad still tells me to come into the house at eight o'clock at night But i'm sitting on the outside. Um, so Yeah, again, I think it depends on where you are I've got friends that had unfortunately bad experiences and then i've got other friends whose prosperous great lives, They love they love living there.

Andy: 20:14

I haven't actually heard that many first hand horror stories. It's almost like, dinner party mythology. And I think that makes people More scared I was in a car with a one of my cousins out there and she said we're driving to a restaurant So we got into the garage got into the car drove car out the gates And literally around the corner and then parked up and I said, what are we stopping for? She said, we're here. We wouldn't, we wouldn't even walk around the corner to the restaurant, you know, she's so paranoid about

Lesinda: 20:44

is a driving culture though. And they think we'd rather not walk home back in the dark, just, you know, to be sure.

Andy: 21:31

The next section of the podcast is called Any Laptops, Liquids or Sharp Objects? What do you have to take with you when you're traveling?

Lesinda: 21:39

The one thing I always have apart from those things is a little bag with a pack of wipes, hand cream, lip balm, gum, and a bottle of water. And I keep that kind of separately because as soon as I get on the plane, I want to put my shit in the overhead compartment, I want to put the little bag in front of me, and I want to forget. About everything else that faffing irritates the life out of me You know those people that gets up as they get on They shuffle in inside of you and they go sit down and as they sit down They're like right now It's ready to go all the stuff out of the overlay and they shuffle out again and they start faffing faffing faffing I just get it ready before you get on mate Get in, sit down and chill So I always take the aisle seat because I want to have the freedom of getting up as much as I possibly can. So yes, those are the things. Wipes, absolutely.

Andy: 22:35

For cleanliness? Or, or what are the wipes for?

Lesinda: 22:38

yeah, I feel cleanliness. You know, the pits needs wiping, man. Especially if you've been sitting like this.

Nick: 22:45

Just say it. Just say it.

Lesinda: 22:47

I like to, I like to go, I like to go and, um, you know, and your face needs a bit of washing and when you've eaten and, you know, it's just nice to feel, I love the smell of freshness and niceness. So,

Andy: 22:57

This is the Glastonbury Festival baby wipe bath that you're giving yourself in the toilet,

Lesinda: 23:02

Exactly. Sometimes not even, sometimes I don't even bother going to the toilet, I just sit there and wipe down my arms and my face.

Andy: 23:08

That was arms, everyone, arms. She said

Lesinda: 23:10

arms.

Andy: 23:13

when do you pick up the huge bag of wine that I've seen you carrying around?

Lesinda: 23:17

For the, for the plane? No, I do ask always when the first round of drinks come around, I always ask if can I have three bottles. Just because then I know I can settle man. I don't have to wait You know then usually because it takes a while before they serve dinner, right? You're traveling it feels good. I've got my three little bottles of wine ready my thing earphones music my movies on and I usually take Choose my movies before I fly so I go through the entertainment of the airline and I check what's showing It's always one Asian, movie With subtitles because I love Asian movies and they're always brilliant and then a couple of blockbusters that might not be out yet And then I'm sorted I love flying

Andy: 24:02

some honesty. We get everyone on the show and they're like, well, I like to work and then I drink water and maybe I, do a little meditation or, you know, and they, you know, but you've come on, you're like, no, we're Loads of wine. Watch, watch the crap.

Lesinda: 24:14

Disclosure. Disclosure. If it's an evening, if it's a morning flight at 8am on my way to a meeting, I'll probably not go for the wine. But yeah, otherwise, no. Screw that, man.

Nick: 24:29

give us some South African wine recommendations. Is it? Chocolate block. Do you know that one?

Lesinda: 24:34

Yeah, chocolate block is good. Um, you've got the chocolate pinotage as well. So, pinotage is probably my favourite drink. It's really, really lovely. My mum and I love pinotage. We're all over it. Um, I do love a Canon cop cadet. It's one of my favorite reds. It's really, really good. Um, but my favorite, favorite, winery or vineyard is sle, uh, which is called Jackal Valley. Basically if you translate it into English, but they do this beautiful, LA Rose, which is a lovely Swedish, very fine bubbly. Rosé, um, they do it in the white now as well and it's such a wonderful summer's drink and guess which season I'm in South Africa? So I buy them by the caseloads and the vineyard is about an hour and a half's drive from my parents So we can just go for a day and it's got these rolling grass like hills and the vineyards So we just sit on the grass on a picnic blanket. They have live music. They often, get the wine. Dad doesn't drink, which is wonderful. So me and mom can just, you know, knock ourselves out. Not literally, but borderline. My mom would be mortified if she heard that.

Nick: 25:53

Savannah cider is delicious. I mean, I don't know whether it's just the sunshine and the view. A cold savannah. Cider. Wow.

Lesinda: 26:04

yep.

Andy: 26:05

Yeah, there's a, yeah, I think a lot of the, a lot of the South Africans I hang out with aren't very classy, so that they, yeah, Castle Lager and Savannah and Drostehoff wine with ice in it. Yeah.

Lesinda: 26:18

I mean, if you want more for your buck, yes, go for it. I'm not averse to, a nice castle, you know, an high school draft castle. Uh, Windhoek, Windhoek draft is the

Andy: 26:27

Lager is, is very nice. Yeah. That's Namibia.

Lesinda: 26:31

I feel there's a certain tone to this chat.

Andy: 26:34

I'm thirsty now.

Nick: 26:34

I'm really getting thirsty.

Andy: 26:36

Nick looks like he's gonna ask something. He's

Nick: 26:38

No, no. Yeah. Yeah.

Lesinda: 26:42

Safe space, Nick, safe space.

Nick: 26:44

When I mute myself. Ha,

Andy: 26:47

And looks like an ostrich. the next section of the show is called, what's the purpose of your visit? So why do you do what you do?

Lesinda: 27:19

My first one is probably the human aspect of it. which is the more wacky answer, but it's a true answer, right? I genuinely care about. Progress for humankind and I, it was always going to be something in education or medical. I landed firmly into the education world many years ago. And I will never leave it because I love it so much. secondly, it is the curiosity for the world. As I mentioned, I grew up very Afrikaans in a very average household. My dad worked on the mines. My mom was a housewife, you know, I went to school barefoot until the age of 15. Getting on a plane was like the most distant dream you could ever imagine. So I grew up dreaming that one day, I want to see the world. And, at that time in your life, when I was 10, 11, 12, you know, it's still the Disney princess dream of meeting Prince Charming. But I was looking around me thinking, all of these people went to school with the people they married. And in my head, I was like, how can you find your soulmate if you've never seen the world? Like, How do you know, you know, it blew my mind that people could just choose the person that's close to them. And I just thought I've got to get out there, right? See the world and, meet my people because they might be somewhere else. And, disclosure, I've married someone from local and someone from not local, neither worked out. So that, that, that was not, um,

Andy: 28:42

do they know about it? But, uh, okay. They, yeah, it was different times, not, not the same time.

Lesinda: 28:46

No, so, um, so yeah, I think it's the travel and I'm, I'm very, I'm blessed that I've seen most of the world. I love what we do I get to see fabulous countries and meet amazing people. So that's my why.

Andy: 28:59

And how well traveled are you?

Lesinda: 29:00

I've been to about 76 countries now, what would you say is well traveled? What is the definition of well traveled?

Andy: 29:07

No, I think that's well traveled. think, yeah. I think you're probably in the top, uh, 0. 5 percent of. of the world in terms of the number of places you've been. There's very few people actually I meet that have done more than about seven, even in our industry for a long time, that have done more than 70 countries. And in other industries, they tend to go to the same places over and over again, there is one guy I know, I won't say his name, who is in our industry and he is just so intrepid. he takes holidays from traveling. To go traveling on his own, just because he hasn't been to those countries.

Lesinda: 29:41

I love that.

Andy: 29:42

You would never think to necessarily go there, and he just, he loves it.

Lesinda: 29:45

That is probably in my pipe dream. Just go, just pack your backpack and get off. Like, why not?

Nick: 29:51

Well, here's a question for you. How much of the African continent have you seen?

Lesinda: 29:56

Do you know, um, up until recently, not much, but I'm incredibly blessed because I've just spent the entire April traveling down the West coast of Africa. and although it was for work, I saw so many countries and it was, I mean, I cried when, I cried and at one point we stopped because I have this taxi service and I was in the Gambia where I started and I was on my way to Gorno and we stopped in Freetown and I was like, Oh, I had a cool name and I didn't, and it's like, Oh, we're now in Sierra Leone and I was like, Oh my God. And you know, they use a plane as a taxi. So they fly to the next, people get off, people get on, fly to the next city, people get off, people get on, right? So it was amazing, and I just, um, yeah, so I would say West Coast now fairly well., I've done Egypt, which I still count Africa, even though it's quite North. I've done Botswana, I've done a lot of South Africa, I've now done Zimbabwe, and now I've done Rwanda, Cameroon, Ghana, Gambia. It was pretty insane. It was amazing.

Nick: 30:57

We talk about Africa being, The next big hub for kind of 2030, 2050 is the populations grow and the African economies develop How do you feel about that?

Lesinda: 31:08

There is so much to still be done there. It's such an uncharted territory. There's so many opportunities. It's actually the things that scares me the most is not being able to develop all those opportunities, not having the support or the skill or the time to grasp them because it's there. And people are just hungry for development.. People want to upskill themselves. People want to, move around. looking at the Gambia where I was, they've got this wonderful, nursing and medical colleges, and they've got more nurses qualifying every year than the Gambia has space to employ. So you've got highly qualified nurses sitting without jobs. I mean, we've got the world with shortages in medical. it needs people to show an interest and help those people what do we do to get abroad? So endless opportunities and not even just the Gambia, every country I traveled down, everyone is keen. Sorry, I get very passionate about it, but they want to travel, not because they want to leave their countries. They want to travel because they want to learn and they want to take what they've learned back and help develop that infrastructure and make their own own economy stronger. I think it's beautiful.

Nick: 32:18

The explorer mindset,

Lesinda: 32:20

Absolutely.

Nick: 32:22

Go out get the knowledge and bring it back home.

Lesinda: 32:24

It's a truly spectacular continent. It was not what I expected. I'll be honest. And as a South African that grew up on the continent, it was not what I expected. Pleasantly surprised.

Nick: 32:35

You've moved me to want to go to Africa. I'm just feeling restless to go back

Andy: 32:42

are there any travel stories that you want to share?

Lesinda: 32:44

A few years ago. we were on a fam trip in Cape Town, bearing in mind this is my hometown, right? Yeliz Hussain and Sam Bufton was with me, so the three of us, we've just done, lots of shopping. I know Sam has got this gigantic statue of like a giraffe or something that he's carrying. And we go through security, our tickets are checked, everything is fine. We've had a few beers we're having smoke, we're chatting, we're reminiscing about this fam trip, and now it's like 45 minutes before departure and turns out we're in the domestic terminal. So they ran us. Through the domestic, through all the like back rooms, they didn't even check our bags, going through anything. This is us, it took about 20 minutes sprinting through the airport, through back roads, and I was pissing myself laughing. It was so funny. Sam was running with giant giraffe like through the back. It was Hysterical.

Andy: 33:36

Running through airports. You just end up there depressed and sweaty outside a gate that's closed.

Lesinda: 33:41

We're so lucky we made it in the end, but they literally did take us through like staff rooms and security, police running ahead of us., it was really something special. Everyone's sitting on the plane waiting. It's awful. It's a walk of shame, isn't it? When you get on the plane and everyone's like glaring at you. Like,

Nick: 33:56

We're waiting for you,

Lesinda: 33:57

yeah, it's you guys. It's weird.

Andy: 33:59

Yeah. Nice giraffe, you idiots.

Lesinda: 34:01

Yeah, no one laughed at my wipes then, did they?

Andy: 34:04

Yeah. They came in particularly useful The last section of the show is called Anything to Declare. This is a free space for you to talk about whatever you'd like.

Lesinda: 34:45

If I was put in front of a bunch of youngsters going onto their path in life my number one advice of them would be is throw caution to the wind and just go. I want everyone to travel and embrace and learn that actually we, there is enough going around for everyone and we all can live together very happily if we just spend some time taking, learning what everyone is like and love and life like. it sounds a bit deep. I can get like that sometimes, sorry, but I just travel, meet people, embrace it. Don't take your own inhibitions and learnings with you, but be open and neutral and as if you're learning from scratch. That is my words of wisdom today.

Andy: 35:25

Just say. I mean, yes.

Lesinda: 35:28

just say yes and no. Sometimes

Nick: 35:31

Just say go.

Andy: 35:32

I'm quite keen for you to teach us some Afrikaans. how do you say Tales from the Departure Lounge in Afrikaans?

Lesinda: 35:39

ndi? I can't remember what the port lines in African is. Hold on one second.

Andy: 35:45

Slide.

Lesinda: 35:46

One Tales is I would say would be stories from the departure lounge.

Andy: 35:53

rolls off the tongue.

Lesinda: 35:55

I can teach you how to say thank you very much in Afrikaans.

Andy: 35:58

let's do it.

Lesinda: 35:58

if you said in English, buy a donkey, there

Andy: 36:02

Fire donkey.

Lesinda: 36:04

you go. So, buy a donkey is thank you very much in Afrikaans. So, if you just remember buy a donkey,

Andy: 36:10

By a donkey.

Nick: 36:12

that can't be that easy. Buy, buy, buy a donkey.

Andy: 36:15

I guess it's based on Dutch, right? And dank, dank, danke, danke, dankebal.

Lesinda: 36:19

donkey. So, there you've got it. You can, you're fluent now. You can go out there and bless her. And then, of course, um, if you want to say to someone, I love you, you say, Isn't it beautiful?

Andy: 36:32

Yeah, it's quite nice.

Nick: 36:33

We should do this as a feature, shouldn't we? Duolingo out and just our guests teach us phrases.

Lesinda: 36:40

Oh, it was so nice to meet you both I really enjoyed it.

Andy: 36:42

Well the sender. Thank you so much for coming on the show It's been great to have you

Lesinda: 36:51

you're so awesome. I'll see you soon, eh? Thanks for everything.

Nick: 37:00

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for listening. As always

37:03

I want to say big, thank you to the PI for supporting the podcast. They have a fantastic new new site that looks brilliant, particularly on mobile. And it has a new watch and listen section where tales from the departure lounge features. So check it out. If you want to get in touch you can do so at. Sick bag tales from the departure lounge.com.

Nick: 37:25

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