Tales from the Departure Lounge

#43 Nik Higgins (My Feet Wander Free)

• Andy Plant & Nick Cuthbert • Season 3 • Episode 43

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Recorded on Australia Day, Nik Higgin's (The Ambassador Platform) beams us in to Sydney, a harbour view and the smell of eucalyptus. Drink it in... and then blackout at a 7-Eleven. A loveable character with his own unique style, Nik's life view is to live and let live, including his desire to take off his shoes. He has some excellent travel hacks for frugal entrepreneurs doing business travel that are essential listening. 

It was always going to work. And with Nik championing TAP around the world, how could it not? Special thanks to the Melbourne family who looked after our man in his hour of need.

Final boarding call: Sydney, Australia 

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

Andy:

Which Nick? no, Host Nick, not guest Nick. Nick Cuthbert Nick! Nick! Nick! There's too many bloody knicks.

Nick:

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

Andy:

Today on the show we're joined by Nick Higgins. He's the co founder and interim CEO for the Ambassador Platform.

Nick:

And we recorded this one a long time ago on Australia Day. We've been sitting on it because they sponsored and we just thought we'd wait to bring Nick on the show. But it's a good one.

Andy:

And it's nice to re listen to it after we recorded it all that time ago. He's got a lovely voice, lovely lilt, lovely vocabulary. He gives us this amazing description of Australia and particularly Sydney.

Nick:

that British perspective of the magic of time traveling to Australia, as he puts it.

Andy:

And he's done lots of long haul in his time. And we go deep, don't we, into his travel hacks.

Nick:

he was traveling on a shoestring because he was working for a startup and he actually used to blog about how to marginally improve your travel experience on a budget.

Andy:

And we focus on foot comfort.

Nick:

Yes, the foot hammock.

Andy:

It does become a bit of a podiatry podcast, a pod pod.

Nick:

I think people who know Nick, will know that he doesn't like wearing shoes.

Andy:

He has got a very, yeah, relaxed wardrobe I'd say.

Nick:

Yes. I mean, he wears speedos in the office, I think.

Andy:

He doesn't wear budgie smugglers.

Nick:

No, the, um the board shorts, but he's got a unique style, that matches his Beautiful character.

Andy:

he calls himself a frustrated academic. He did a couple of degrees, that would now actually probably be termed Mickey Mouse degrees. And he's, another example of, somebody who's highly successful after not studying

Nick:

he's a great example to young people everywhere Do what you love. and join the dots later on.

Andy:

He touches on the entrepreneurial journey, doesn't he? And but unlike most of the others that we've spoken to, he never had any doubts. He just says, I knew it was going to work. his story. Might be familiar to quite a few people. It's very relatable.

Nick:

It's a blackout story involving snacks.

Andy:

He's got a really live and let live chilled out attitude

Nick:

Like a comfy pair of Birkenstocks.

Andy:

He's the Mancurian entrepreneur with a love of open toed footwear and Australia Let's get some tails in the departure lounge from Nick Higgins

Nik:

I take my shoes off, and I, have a rotation of various, pairs of Crocs, Birkenstocks, slippers,, anything. I just hate wearing shoes inside. I have got, to this day, no idea. How I made the journey I was lying on the bed on my back, fully clothed, with a couple of, 7 Eleven sandwich wrappers just distributed around me and about a hundred missed calls on my phone. I remember when the first conversation came through, were sat there and the first message dropped into the inbox and I was like, yes, this is going to work.

Nick:

Hey.

Nik:

big question.

Nick:

So before we get into the episode,

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:

The podcast, great to have you on.

Nik:

Thank you so much for having me, gents. it's an honour, actually. I've got to apologize by the way. I'm actually I'm actually off work sick today But I've dosed up on drugs and I'm gonna I'm gonna try and appear. All right

Andy:

The first question we always ask all of our guests is our final boarding call. If you could take our listeners anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Nik:

Sydney, in New South Wales, in Australia. Australia has become a second home for me through my work at TAP. I've spent, a long time there in some fairly long periods, you know, three, four months, chunks. I used to base myself in Sydney and I used to say, north of the Harbor and a place called Potts Point. So it's just at the end of Sydney Harbor bridge. And I want to beam you in. So, I mean, I just find Australia absolutely beautiful. The scenery, the weather, the people. But there is this bit of the journey where you drive through the city, you. Emerge onto the south side of the bridge and Sydney Harbour just opens out in front of you. And I don't know why, but a lot of my flights are landed, late afternoon, early evening, so you get to the bridge just as the sun sets in. And when the sun hits the harbour, it's honestly unbelievably beautiful. At Sydney Harbour Bridge, as you get about half way, you can see the Opera House and the city in the background, and then you can see North Sydney, so Potts Point and Kirribilli in front of you. And it would always fill me with just incredible excitement and I'd stay. These tiny service apartments in Pots Point I used to ask for the same apartment. It had a fantastic little balcony. So I'd get there, I'd be hugely jet lagged.'cause you know, you've done this 26 hour trip. I'd step up onto the balcony. just as the sun was setting. It's like golden. You can see the bridge and the harbor in the background. And the thing, I don't know unless you know the smell it's hard to describe, but the thing for me is the smell of eucalyptus. So It's everywhere in Australia, there are eucalyptus trees and forests everywhere, there are trees dotted throughout Sydney. So I remember I'd get there onto the balcony, sun's just setting, there'd be that smell of eucalyptus in the air. and that just screamed possibility and excitement and adventure. so much so that I've actually got a little eucalyptus leaf tattoo on my left shoulder, which I have as a memento of those trips. If I could have the listeners join me, in one particular place, at one particular moment, it would be right there.

Andy:

That's the posh part, isn't it? the northern side of the harbour, aren't you paying about 20 for a beer there

Nik:

it is very expensive. I should say all my travel has been done as part of a startup. On a budget, I'm going to talk about that later. So I can't say I was in a fancy hotel, but look, somewhere like Sydney, you can stay anywhere and the views and the sun make it fantastic traveling to Australia is a little bit like time traveling or teleportation especially come from the UK. I should emphasize that you leave the dreary London weather you arrive in Australia and for me it's like I almost can't process it. It's warm, it's beautiful, the days are longer. It is a magic ticket. I'm very, very lucky to have been able to do that.

Andy:

Sydney is stunning. There's a few places in the world I've been where you're just there and you go, wow,

Nik:

It's not by any means, the most exotic, or unusual place that I've been to, but I think it is, like you said, I think it is probably the most stunning whenever I go there, I feel like I've come back home in a strange way, which is a nice feeling for a place so far away.

Nick:

I actually thought you lived there because you were always there. and TAP's done very well in Australia. They have a lot of Australian partners. So yeah, thought that you had moved there. Maybe you'd like to eventually.

Nik:

so I think most people thought i'd move there and the plan was actually to go And move out there for a little while that was scuppered by kovid but i've got permanent residency in australia, which is another massive privilege. And if I could engineer my life in the future to do Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and then Summer in the Southern Hemisphere, I would be a very, very happy person. I grew up in, in Manchester in the North of England, which I think for anyone who knows it is not famed for its good weather, but there's just something about sun I'm so much more energetic focused positive. 12 months a year in the sun I might just actually be a better person

Nick:

Melbourne was like the Manchester of Australia, mainly because people complained about the weather, which was ridiculous. But they did all the time.

Nik:

That actually is a really funny comparison I'm very proud to be a Mancunian and I, claim that, it's probably better than London. But actually it's like when you come to London, you're like, wow, this city is amazing and don't get me wrong. I've got lots of friends in Melbourne and I love Melbourne. It's definitely I think trendier in a kind of self conscious way than Sydney is but I think if you were to sit down and design a dream city you might draw that central bit of Sydney it's amazing.

Andy:

I think you can be too positive, can't you? So, tell us all the shit things about Sydney.

Nik:

You know what? I actually, I actually don't know that they're, I mean, my, my experience of it, I should say like most major Western cities, there's a real hub of wealth and privilege, which masks the deprivation in other places. And Sydney is certainly not exempt from that.

Andy:

It's the property thing, isn't it, Is really significant in Sydney. northern suburbs very wealthy and privileged, and then nobody else can afford to get on the property ladder.

Nik:

i'm sure I saw an article recently that said that it might be the most unaffordable city when you account for property prices

Andy:

I'm glad it's got some downsides, because secretly we all want to live there, don't we?

Nick:

I've realized we're just recording this on Australia Day, there's been some cutting down of statues of Captain Cook and

Nik:

Yeah

Nick:

colonial graffiti going on. something that struck me a lot was the apologetic nature recognizing Aboriginal people in a very formal way something that I just wasn't used to.

Nik:

There's a real revisionist moment in kind of Australian culture and history now, like rethinking what those very recent colonial narratives mean for the shape of contemporary Australia. I'm very much an outsider. but observing and thinking through some of that is, is fascinating.

Andy:

What did you study, Nick?

Nik:

I did the two least, employable degrees ever, I did an undergrad in English Language and Literature. and then I did a Masters in Contemporary Literature, Theory and Culture. I'm a frustrated academic actually, I got a place to do a PhD. but the Arts and Humanities Research Council rejected me, three times? For a while I just thought that I'd be an academic. But here I am as whatever I am now. I was in Melbourne, I was out for drinks with the Edified crew of people known, I think some people from RMIT and maybe some other universities. And I'm pretty sure I'd only just landed, so I was fairly jet lagged. We went out for drinks. And I remember maybe three or four drinks in, I was just really hungry, and I think just a bit bamboozled by the booze and the jet lag. I have a vague memory of saying, alright, I'm just gonna go and grab a sandwich, and then it's like the moment when you hit the fresh air and the booze just hits you, and basically, this is incredible, I have two snapshot memories. One is looking through the window of a 7 Eleven, at The Snacks. The next snapshot memory I've got is of a family inside a car stopping to talk to me at the side of the road. And that's it. And the next morning, I just woke up fully clothed. I was staying, if anyone knows, I was staying with Mark Pessett from Edified. I was in his, kind of annex. I woke up with Mark looking around the door saying, Nick, are you okay? I was lying on the bed on my back, fully clothed, with a couple of, 7 Eleven sandwich wrappers just distributed around me and about a hundred missed calls on my phone. And by the way, where I was staying with Mark is probably,, 10 miles from the centre. So I have got, to this day, no idea. How I made the journey from saying, I need a sandwich in this bar in the center of Melbourne, to waking up fully clothed, 10 miles away, surrounded by sandwich wrappers, I don't know if that family very kindly um, put me in a car and gave me a lift. I don't know if I walked the whole distance. There was no Uber journeys on my account. So that remains a mystery and I suppose I will never know how I made that journey. such is the beauty of Australia and it's lovely people that I think someone took pity on a drunk and misguided Brit and basically took me off.

Andy:

It's amazing. And you managed to bring your snacks with you as well.

Nik:

Well yeah, that was the bizarre thing that the sandwiches had made it all that way,

Andy:

I've got a story of a friend at university and he wake up on the floor of his room and he looked up into his bed and inside his bed was a kebab that he bought, obviously, the night before. And it was tucked in, uh, under his duvet, uh, with the little, the little bits of kebab meat like arms over the, over the duvet. So he tucked in his kebab and then fallen asleep on the floor himself.

Nik:

I think our evolutionary instincts obviously just kick in, preserve the food at all costs And I should just say thanks on the very, very slim chance that that, family from Melbourne are listening to the episode. If you did give me a lift home, then thank you so much.

Andy:

The next section of the podcast is called any, Oh,? run, run, run. They're coming for you. the next section of the podcast is called Any Laptops, Liquids, or Sharp Objects. When you go somewhere, what do you take with you?

Nik:

my first thing that I always take is my Birkenstocks, so if any of the TAP team are listening to this, they'll probably be in hysterics because I am famous. thing I do when I get to the office, after I've said hello to everyone, before I even make a coffee, I take my shoes off, and I, have a rotation of some very fluffy Ikea slippers, various, pairs of Crocs, Birkenstocks, slippers, anything. I just hate wearing shoes inside. and so if I go to a hot country I will, I'll wear my Birkenstocks pre departure, I'm going to Heathrow Airport in shorts and my Birkenstocks, so the minute I step off the plane, I can feel nice and warm and relaxed. And even if I go to a cold country, I'm not wearing them outside, but the second I get in the hotel, I'm putting my Birkenstocks and, padding around in those. So, I mean, I feel that I've made a significant contribution to Birkenstock UK sales, but I'm taking them everywhere. I think they are actually the number one travel accessory.

Nick:

I've never owned a pair, they mold to your feet, don't they? This is what people love about them.

Nik:

And, I've worn many pairs well past the point that they should have been retired. They've got a kind of cork sole, which just moulds to the shape of your foot, I'm gonna listen to this back and regret how ridiculous I sound, but there's something that signifies the excitement of travel when I slip my feet into them. I'm like, okay, I'm ready for action. I'm getting on a long haul flight. The Birkenstock Is actually the perfect post modern artifact, if I can make it as complicated as that. I had a pair when I was, six years old. And then of course they were reclaimed as an ironic pastiche by the, late 2000s hipsters. They've now become almost revered. I mean I would wear them however unfashionable they become again nick. It's it shocked me I don't know how you can do without a pair of birkenstocks

Nick:

How do you feel about Crocs?

Nik:

Very positive in fact, this will make a good clip. Hang on one second

Nick:

various slip on shoes, go on.

Nik:

are my most recent purchase, they're outrageous, these are from Bangkok, they're actually chunky Crocs, with a sporty athleisure backing to them. Yeah, I'm very, very pro Crocs,

Andy:

Do you have croc charms?

Nik:

I don't, I think that probably is a step too far,

Nick:

You're wearing them with socks, aren't you? I'm not sure how I feel about it. Some people don't like an exposed foot. Especially the exposed male foot. But other people would feel quite uncomfortable about you combining socks with a slip on.

Nik:

I should say i'm only wearing with socks in cold climate So I actually am Exposing my feet in all warm climates, which I understand is divisive, but I I don't know what to say I I do wear them on a plane and I do sometimes wonder, you know, am I freaking out the person next to me? But um, these are these are risks we take

Nick:

it's rare you find a handsome pair of feet, isn't it? Feet are quite ugly by nature. but you're not bothered about that. being judged on your toenails.

Nik:

well, I just think that I keep them in fairly good nick. i'm not sure that i'm saying I think I agree with you that feet are inherently Aesthetically displeasing and so if that's the case, I think why hide them because everyone knows that

Andy:

I've got a scenario for you you're on the plane, you sat next to Nick Cuthbert, you fall asleep, Nick needs to go to the toilet, he accidentally puts on your crocs or Birkenstocks to go to the loo, comes back, you wake up and realise what's happened. Are you wearing them again? Yeah,

Nik:

I think I would and I think I would only be able to wear them again In the knowledge as nick you said earlier, they do mold to your feet So, Nick Cuthbert would have got, I think, very little satisfaction wearing them to the aeroplane toilet. I think, I think he would have actually been quite uncomfortable and I think that knowledge would help me wear them again.

Nick:

the cork lining would have acted as a pumice against my verrucas. And that, that would have been satisfying in itself.

Nik:

you would have taken kind of revenge back mate, it's a horrible thing, it's a horrible thing to think through. I've never actually sat next to someone else also wearing, which is strange actually now I think about it. I actually don't think I've sat next to anyone else also wearing Birkenstocks, so maybe I'm doing something that's very socially unacceptable.

Nick:

Last summer in the Gold Coast, I saw a lot of people walking around barefoot. Now I'm talking in the supermarket. Running on the streets. Barefoot running on concrete and most extreme, we went to the cloud forest, and we were worried about spiders and those sorts of things. And there was a woman walking barefoot through the leaves and foliage. How are you feeling about fully barefoot? Hey.

Nik:

big question. I think, my general approach to everything is to be liberal and permissive, you know, live and let live. So I think I would just think, cool, you guys do you. I would be concerned mainly about the kind of, the German bacteria implications, like it just must be so unclean, like even sometimes if I wear my Birkenstocks, you know, you really have to give your feet a good watch, so if you've got no protection whatsoever, they're gonna be very dirty, my objection to that, not that I've ever thought about this before, I can't believe you've asked me this question, um, But I think there's something self consciously demonstrative, like, you want people to notice something, that you're doing something different, and maybe that I have a little bit of a problem with,

Andy:

I'm a foot nudist. look at me. I'm a foot nudist is what he's saying. I perSonally feel, I think it's the natural way of being. And the only reason I really wear shoes is because of the modern world that we live in. I would quite happily never wear shoes. The sand, the foliage and things, they just clean themselves and look better.

Nik:

The Very complex and difficult interplay of what's natural and what's socially acceptable. I just wonder would you extend that to general nudism, There is a, barefoot guy and he goes around cities in Europe And he basically goes up to people and says hey explains his philosophy and says What are you prepared to take your shoes off for the rest of the day and walk around see what you think? A huge amount of them say yes, they take them off and they often say I feel better I feel more grounded. It feels more natural. So maybe i'm actually more conservative than I thought

Andy:

who knew this would turn into a fucking Chiropathy podcast?

Nik:

No, I know. It's

Andy:

We've gone deep,

Nik:

unusual turn.

Andy:

we've gone deep here.

Nick:

full foot fetish.

Nik:

Yeah, I think someone's gonna psychoanalyze the three of us after listening to this.

Andy:

Is there anything else on the list?

Nik:

yeah, yeah, we started off as a very small startup and so trying to fund international travel, even for one person on a startup budget is a very, very difficult thing to do. And so, when I traveled, I always try and try to do it as cheaply as possible for the company. I actually wrote a blog about this on my website, it's called some like travel hacks for founders. one of the sections was about what I call pseudo upgrades. The first one is very obvious. It's, it's the travel pillow. everyone's got one of those. But the other thing which I did use for a bit, which I bought off Amazon, was a foot hammock. you basically clip it underneath the seat in front of you, and it is like a little hammock for your feet. So it allows you to just raise your feet. And if you combine that with a travel pillow, it's not exactly giving you business class, but it's just a few percentage points improvement in comfort from just the basic seat, so I recommend that. My other pseudo upgrades, the first one was the little tiny extras you can pay for in economy. So you know, it might be, say, 35 more. To move to a seat with slightly more leg room or to maybe go to one near the bulkhead Again, that's a few percentage points improvements. Maybe combine that with a good pillow and a good hammock you're maybe starting to Just touch the glass ceiling of premium economy then the other pseudo upgrade is purely opportunistic. When you sit down, be hyper aware of where the free seats are, and then there will of course be that moment where they say boarding's complete and they're shutting the door and therefore all the passengers are on. At that point, you're gonna look desperate, I certainly have, but if you just shoot to that seat that's maybe on the aisle. It's maybe at the bulkhead, maybe at the emergency exit and got a little bit more, leg room. You won't be charged because you've moved, once the plane's full, but that can really enhance your journey.

Andy:

This is great, this is the marginal gains that we've talked about in the past are just making things ever so slightly better. I'm wondering how far we can expand this. What else do you get in a more premium journey that you could add on to a basic journey? Do you take your own little packed lunch and then pretend you've got access to the lounge somewhere?

Nik:

I actually sat down and did some maths around this which was very sad, but I think using a lounge, if you're doing a very long haul journey, I think probably it's better value Than not using a lounge if you're in an airport for a while, you probably Go to prep and get a sandwich and a drink or whatever at airport prices. You're probably talking 20 quid for that. then if you factor that, if you actually go into a lounge say you pay, I don't know like 40 50 quid Whatever the price is once you've factored in the food I always take my Chili's bottle, so you fill up your water bottle. Just being more rested, so the improvement in your output when you actually land. I think the gain is demonstrable.

Andy:

Yeah, experience tells us that.

Nik:

my other tip is actually don't watch the TV, don't watch films. I've done some experiments just about my own perception of time passing, and I find it passes much more quickly if I just listen to audio content, like this fantastic podcast, obviously. I'm a big ESP podcast listener. If you listen to films, it's something like, wow,, I've got to watch five films to take up this entire journey, and that just feels like such a Mammoth undertaking that it it drags things out, so yeah, podcasts all the way.

Andy:

You definitely can't remember what you've watched as well, there's some weird psychology somebody asks you what you've seen, and it's almost immediately erased.

Nik:

goes to cinema films, plenty of podcasts and sobriety. I do occasionally have calamities. One was, trying to check into a flight to Australia at Gatwick. When it turned out I was actually flying from Heath Row. that was a tragic, tragic, tragic era,

Andy:

The next section of the podcast is called What's the purpose of your visit? So why do you do what you do?

Nik:

That's actually really lovely question. Lots of people aren't familiar with the ambassador platform. so me and, and George Olson, we set the company up about seven years ago and for the First year and a half maybe we were just operating domestically in the UK So I was doing lots of travel, but, it was like train to Coventry to Gloucester to Glasgow And it was actually when one of your other guests, Nick Golden who was a very early investor, supporter, director of TAP, joined, that we really started to take the company international and we started to, work with universities overseas. And he very much taught me the ropes of business travel and traveling in the world of international education I wouldn't say i've adopted All of his techniques, I operate on a kind of post golden model. I like to think of it, but, he certainly was like a kind of mentor and guide in the early days of traveling for work. But anyway, um, that's when we started to take the business international. I did some early trips to Australia and for me. I just absolutely wanted to make sure that the company was successful and whatever it took, however long I had to be away for, however many miles I had to do, whatever I missed at home, that I was going to do that to make sure that I did my bit to help the company succeed and also to make sure that we could operate internationally because. As a small business, there's just a weight of maths and expectation against you, which is, you're trying to transact with the whole world as a tiny little minnow of a company, that's an impossible undertaking. And I think to do it, it does require people in the business to just say we're just going to live on the road until this thing gets its own traction. Obviously now, years later, we've got different people in different locations across the world. Other people are doing a lot of the traveling, which in itself is a real privilege to see that happening. I do it Because I knew that we had something that was great for universities and more importantly, based on what I was interested in, it was just like great for young people, like it really helped young people take these big decisions.

Andy:

So when did you know you when did you know that it was a goer? this is really going to work?

Nik:

I kind of always have known that it would be a goer and that's because, I don't mean that arrogantly at all, it's because I saw, so for anyone who doesn't know, basically our platform lets a prospective student anywhere in the world chat to a student ambassador at a university. Find out what the experience is like. I knew those interactions were super valuable and transformative because I'd sat in, various careers rooms at different schools. I brought student ambassadors into the college and had them sit down and talk to kids that I was working with and I saw the impact of those conversations. So. I knew that at its core that it was going to work I think I remember the first time a message came through the platform the question was well, okay, they work when two people are sat face to face. Will they work if these are two strangers connected by this? Very new and rickety platform. I remember when the first conversation came through, we had an office in a Pearson business school on Holborn in London. I remember me, George and, Georgina, who was our first team member. We were sat there and the first message dropped into the inbox and it was a great conversation. I was like, yes, this is going to work. Luck is the biggest factor. As is the privilege of, having a university education, being able to interact with potential investors. But the other element is, just, are you going to make it work? And for me, it was like, okay, I'm going to do it. If it doesn't work, it isn't because I've not tried to do my bit for

Nick:

Can you remember the feeling of when you signed your first? Overseas partner.

Nik:

The first one that came from going out doing a business development trip was, the University of Adelaide in Australia. and the director of, customer experience there was,, was called Kat Cherry. She was so lovely. I went in, did the pitch. And I think she might have sent me a message like almost immediately after the meeting saying hey, let's meet again later this afternoon this thing solves a definite need that we've been talking about. We basically signed the paperwork and I just It sounds but I remember I was in Adelaide. It was hot It was just like a beautiful day. And I remember that we signed this thing. I was like, wow we're going to be able to work with the universities wherever they are in the world. Like this thing applies, to any student major, any decision. And it was just so exciting. We were prepared to take the risk. You're going to come home with a new partner to justify that whole trip, definitely one of the most exciting days of my life. It's fantastic.

Andy:

The last section of the podcast is called Anything to Declare. it's a free space for you to tell our listeners anything,

Nik:

In our early days, people would say, okay, I like this, but, Do I really need to implement a peer to peer platform at my university? And I knew that I was probably pitching to fellow travellers, so I used to take them through a bit of a travel thought experiment. And I'd ask them straight up, I'd say, hey, where's the last place that you travelled to? And often they say, oh, it was, I did a trip to Malaysia or I went to the subcontinent or wherever. I say, okay, cool. When you picked your hotel to stay for that one, two or three week trip, did you go on the hotel's official website? Look at the highly produced glossy pictures, read their market and spiel and think, yeah, this is where I'm gonna stay for two weeks. And they'd almost laugh at me and they'd say, no, of course not. It's either a place I've already stayed in, a colleague has already stayed in, or if that's not the case, you know, I, I go on TripAdvisor, I'd go on Google reviews, I'd say, okay, so for. What's really just like a two week business trip, you really needed to find out what it was like, you wanted to see real pictures of the spa or the gym or the hotel rooms, you wanted to read reviews, you wanted to find out what the buffet was like from one of your colleagues and say, yeah, of course, that's so essential when I'm traveling or I'm making a decision like this. I'd say, okay, well, if you needed that for a two week trip to wherever, Imagine that a prospective student is about to make one of the biggest decisions of their life. They're about to commit 5 years to a new country, a new city, to an institution. Don't you think that they need exactly that same kind of insight? Times a million and then usually the penny would drop and people would say oh, yeah, I I suppose they do. We don't actually supply that, in the way that we currently, interact or communicate with students. That's the reason that I think you need the ambassador platform. So my pitch is if anyone's listening to this and they are serious about convincing. prospective international students to come to their institution. Then I'd ask you to think about themselves as travelers and build a sense of belonging, confidence, be excited and prepared employing a peer to peer approach is a really simple and, effective way to go about that.

Andy:

Awesome. anything else you want to share, Nick, whilst you're on here?

Nik:

There are a lot of new startups cropping up in the industry, and I think for people who've got really great solutions that are going to help unis, help young people, they might not want it after listening to this episode, but, any tips and pointers that I can do, I've made all the mistakes. So I'd love to help out if there are new entrepreneurs setting up, you can just drop me a line.

Andy:

That's very good of you.

Nick:

I'm very passionate about peer support and peer recruitment. I do have a friend who's Estonian who told me he felt very uncomfortable about peer support because peer means piss in Estonian or something like that. For a long time when I was saying peer to peer, he was just really confused.

Nik:

Wow. Well, that's, that is an unfortunate, urany, overtone to, uh, what we do, but thanks, Nick.

Andy:

Awesome, Nick. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast. It's been great to have you on.

Nik:

No, thank you guys. It's been a real privilege. Thanks so much.

Andy:

And I'm definitely going to take up your advice of a foot hammock.

Nik:

Get one, 16. 99

Nick:

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

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:

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

People on this episode

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Andy Plant

Host
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Nick Cuthbert

Host